Another year!-another deadly blow! Another empty Empire overthrown!1 And we are left, or shall be left, alone; The last that dare to struggle with the foe. 5 'Tis well! from this day forward we shall know That in ourselves our safety must be sought; That by our own right hands it must be wrought; That we must stand unpropped, or be laid low. O dastard whom such foretaste doth not cheer! 10 We shall exult, if they who rule the land Be men who hold its many blessings dear, Wise, upright, valiant; not a servile band, Who are to judge of danger which they fear, And honor which they do not understand. 1 A reference to the French victories over the Germans, October and November, 1806. O joy! that in our embers The thought of our past years in me doth Perpetual benediction: not indeed 135 Delight and liberty, the simple creed To dialogues of business, love, or strife; 140 Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride stage'" With all the Persons, down to palsied Age, Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise; Blank misgivings of a Creature Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised: Are yet a master-light of all our seeing; Our noisy years seem moments in the being Which neither listlessness, nor mad en- Nor man nor boy, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Hence in a season of calm weather Our souls have sight of that immortal sea And Can in a moment travel thither, see the children sport upon the shore, And hear the mighty waters rolling ever more. Loving she is, and tractable, though wild; 5 Of trespasses, affected to provoke And, as a faggot sparkles on the hearth, Than when both young and old sit gathered 10 And take delight in its activity; Even so this happy creature of herself Is blithe society, who fills the air lay couched; |