Fated perhaps with Britain's flag to shine, And future heroes bear to deeds like thine.
That mount, where thy remains in honour sleep, Amid the murmur of th' encircling deep,
Thy friends, who still the patriot ardour share, Shall visit, and shall love to linger there; Heave, in ecstatic tears, affection's sigh, And wish like thee to live, like thee to die: Like thee, from discontent secure and strife, To flourish through the vernal years of life; Then ripe in glory sink into the grave, Mourn'd by the good, and envy'd by the brave. Full often, when at length are past away The languid moments of the lonely day, And night a welcome change of scene supplies, Spreading her sparkling mantle o'er the skies, In sleep I see the elements engage,
And hear the winds howl, and the waters rage. -That solitary bark contends in vain, Toss'd in th' infuriate uproar of the main, While mountain waves in long array are driven, And the fierce lightning fires the angry heaven. Lo, plunging far down down the billowy steep She reels and lo, she sinks for ever in the deep.
Shivering I wake in tears, aghast, forlorn, To waste in wo the melancholy morn.
Father Almighty, whose supreme controul In light and life makes worlds unnumber'd roll; Whose providence, to man for ever kind,
By grief refines, with comfort calms the mind; Whose chastenings, proof of thy paternal love, Teach hope to soar to better worlds above: O when in light these shadows melt away, In light, the dawning of eternal day;
When the high trump of heaven, with mellow breath, Pours thrilling thunder in the ear of death;
On me may that last morn serenely shine,
And give me back my loved, lamented VALENTINE.
TU, quem sonantis murmur Atlantici
Sacra et medendi munia postulant, Fervensque complexu revulsum
Accipiet Jamaïca nostro ;
Extrema tecum præmia fer mei:
Non æra, claram non ego purpuram, Sed vota porto, queis amicum
Musa suum jubeat valere.
* The person to whom this Ode is inscribed, and who had been the Author's intimate friend from childhood, went to Jamaica; but, finding the climate hurtful to him, returned to Europe; attended his friend during the last four months of his life, and saw him expire. This Ode, in which the Author so plainly hints at, and almost foretells, his own early death, has no date," but appears from circumstances to have been written some years before that event took place. It was never, for an obvious reason, shown by the Author to any person; but was found among his papers after his death.
Non purpuratum scilicet, aut jubar Flagrantis auri, certa beatitas Sectatur; at quam vera virtus
Vestiit excoluitque mentem. Assurge! Nam lux omnipotens Dei Effulsit; atro fusa sub æthere
Vox læta Christi enim silentes
Perpetua repulit tenebras.
Sequare divini imperium Ducis : Sic non Voluptas blanda recondito Uret veneno, comprimetve
Dextra Dei monitrix dolentem. Sic te remittat mi Deus arbiter Si mi fruenti luce, nec impium Sermone cernam, neu coactis
Divitiis leviter superbum; Virtutis atque pectore conscio Firme quietum, dum vitii tenes Late imminentes per ruinas
Non trepidans iter ac triumphum.
Sin lucis ipso in limine fervidum Frigente me vi mors premat invida; Neu fama ridens, neu cadentis Vesper adhuc maneat senectæ :
(Quippe et canentem fata requirere Mens inquietis sæpe doloribus Jactata, corporisque dudum
Debilis admonuere languor ;) Confissus Olli, qui Pater omnium, Ito silentem tu tumulum prope; Mutamque suspirans amici
De lacrymam viridi sepulchro.
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