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25 Take all the pleasures of all the spheres,
And multiply each through endless years,-
One minute of heaven is worth them all!
The glorious angel who was keeping
The gates of light beheld her weeping;
30 And, as he nearer drew and listened
To her sad song, a tear-drop glistened
Within his eyelids, like the spray

35

From Eden's fountain, when it lies
On the blue flower,* which, Bramins* say,
Blooms nowhere but in Paradise.

*

"Nymph of a fair but erring * line,"
Gently he said,-"One hope is thine :
'Tis written in the Book of Fate,

The Peri yet may be forgiven 40 Who brings to this Eternal Gate

45

The Gift that is most dear to Heaven.
Go, seek it, and redeem * thy sin-
'Tis sweet to let the pardoned in!"
Cheered by this hope, she bends her thither;-
Still laughs the radiant eye of heaven
Nor have the golden bowers of Eden
In the rich west begun to wither,
When, o'er the vale of Balbec * winging
Slowly, she sees a child at play,
50 Among the rosy wild-flowers singing,
As rosy and as wild as they-
Chasing, with eager hands and eyes,

The beautiful blue damsel-flies *
That fluttered round the jasmine stems,
55 Like winged flowers or flying gems.
And near the boy, who, tired with play,
Now nestling 'mid the roses lay,
She saw a wearied man dismount

From his hot steed, and on the brink 60 Of a small imaret's* rustic fount

65

Impatient fling him down to drink.
Then swift his haggard * brow he turned
To the fair child, who fearless sat,
Though never yet hath day-beam burned
Upon a brow more fierce than that*-
Sullenly fierce; a mixture dire,

Like thunder-clouds, of gloom and fire;
In which the Peri's eye could read
Dark tales of many a ruthless* deed:
70 The ruined maid-the shrine * profaned-
Oaths broken-and the threshold stained

All the pleasure, &c., one moment's happiness in heaven is worth an eternity of earthly pleasures.

Blue flower, the Bramins believe that the blue Campac flowers only in Paradise. Bramin, an Indian priest.

Nymph, a fabled female being inhabiting the earth and the waters.

Erring, going wrong. Redeem, to make atonement for.

Balbec, a ruined city of Syria, north of Damascus, in the valley of the Lebanon.

Damsel-flies, aspecies of beautiful insects whose graceful and elegant appearance has procured for them the name of Damsels.

Imaret, a place where pilgrims are lodged and nourished for three days without charge.

Haggard, careworn.

Upon a brow, &c., his countenance showed that he had led a very wicked life.

Ruthless, cruel, with-
out pity.
Shrine, an altar, or
sacred place.

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as are not able to at. obliged to perform this duty wherever they may be, or upon

tend the mosques are

whatever business they may be about.

Eblis, Lucifer.

With blood of guests.* There written, all
Black as the damning drops that fall
From the denouncing angel's pen,
Ere Mercy weeps them out again.

Yet tranquil now that man of crime
(As if the balmy evening time
Softened his spirit) looked and lay,
Watching the rosy infant's play:
Though still, whene'er his eye by chance
Fell on the boy's, its lurid * glance
Met that unclouded, joyous gaze,
As torches, that have burned all night
Through some impure and godless rite,*
Encounter morning's glorious rays.
But hark! the vesper-call * to prayer,
As slow the orb of daylight* sets,
Is rising sweetly on the air

*

From Syria's thousand minarets.*
The boy has started from the bed
Of flowers, where he had laid his head,
And down upon the fragrant sod

Kneels, with his forehead to the south,
Lisping the eternal name of God

And looking, while his hands and eyes
From purity's own cherub mouth,
Are lifted to the glowing skies,
Like a stray babe of Paradise,
Just lighted on that flowery plain,
And seeking for its home again.

*

Oh! 'twas a sight-that heaven, that child-
A scene, which might have well beguiled
E'en haughty Eblis* of a sigh
For glories lost and peace gone by.
And how felt he, the wretched man
Reclining there, while memory ran
O'er many a year of guilt and strife,
Flew o'er the dark flood of his life,
Nor found one sunny resting-place,
Nor brought him back one branch of grace?
"There was a time," he said, in mild
Heart-humbled tones, "thou blessed child,
Haply, perhaps, it When, young and haply* pure as thou,
may be.

Memory ran, &c., looking back upon his recollect having done one good action since the days of his childhood.

past life, he could not

I looked and prayed like thee; but now'
He hung his head-each nobler aim

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And hope and feeling, which had slept
From boyhood's hour, that instant came
Fresh o'er him, and he wept—he wept!

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120

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence!
In whose benign,* redeeming flow
Is felt the first, the only sense

Of guiltless joy that guilt can know.

"There's a drop,"* said the Peri, "that down
from the moon

Falls through the withering airs of June
125 Upon Egypt's land, of so healing a power,
So balmy a virtue, that e'en in the hour
That drop descends, contagion* dies,
And health reanimates* earth and skies.
Oh! is it not thus, thou man of sin,

130

The precious tears of repentance fall?
Though foul thy fiery plagues within,

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Though foul, &c., the even the

One heavenly drop hath dispelled them all." soul of
And now behold him kneeling there
By the child's side, in humble prayer,

135 While the same sunbeam shines upon
The guilty and the guiltless one;

And hymns of joy* proclaim through heaven
The triumph of a soul forgiven.

'Twas when the golden orb* had set,
140 While on their knees they lingered yet,
There fell a light, more lovely far
Than ever came from sun or star,
Upon the tear that warm and meek
Dewed that repentant sinner's cheek.
145 To mortal eye this light might seem
A northern flash or meteor beam
But well the enraptured Peri knew
'Twas a bright smile the angel threw
From heaven's gate, to hail that tear
150 Her harbinger of glory near.

*

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"Joy, joy for ever! My task is done

The gates are passed, and heaven is won!'

THANATOPSIS.-W. C. Bryant.

greatest sinner may be purified by a sincere repentance.

Hymns of joy, &c.,
the angels rejoice
upon the conversion
of the sinner.
Golden orb, the sun.

Northern flash, Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. Meteor, a fiery body passing quickly through the atmosphere.

Harbinger, a messenger or forerunner.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (1794-1878), one of the most eminent poets of America, was born in Massachusetts. His poems are noted for their national spirit, tenderness, grace and beauty of description. Chief works: Thanatopsis; or, Thoughts on Death, and The Ages, a survey of the experience of mankind.

Communion, inter. course, fellowship.

To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible* forms, she Visible, that which

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speaks

may be seen.

Various, different, unlike each other, varied, changing.

Musings, thoughts,

reflections.

Sympathy, compas

sion.

Last bitter hour, the time of death.

Blight, that which causes a thing to de

cay and wither up.

Narrow house, the grave.

Yet a few days, &c., in this life all things soon decay, not leaving even a trace behind.

*

A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty; and she glides
Into his darker musings,* with a mild
And healing sympathy,* that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When
thoughts

Of the last bitter hour come like a blight *
Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow

house,

*

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart-
Go forth, under the open sky, and list

10

To Nature's teachings, while from all around— 15
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air-
Comes a still voice-Yet a few days,* and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form is laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall

claim

changed Thy growth, to be resolved * to earth again
And, lost each human trace, surrendering* up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go

Resolved,
back.
Surrendering, &c.,
yielding up oneself,
Elements, the parts
of which anything is
composed.

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To mix for ever with the elements
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude

swain

*

Turns with his share,* and treads upon. The
oak

20

25

Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy 30 mould.

Yet not to thine eternal resting-place

Shalt thou retire alone-nor couldst thou

wish

Couch more magnificent.* Thou shalt lie
down

With patriarchs of the infant world *—with
kings,

The powerful of the earth-the wise, the 35
good,

Fair forms, and hoary seers,* of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre.-The hills
Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun—the

vales

Stretching in pensive* quietness between ; 40 The venerable woods-rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining* brooks That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,

45

Old ocean's grey and melancholy waste-
Are but the solemn decorations * all

Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,
The planets,* all the infinite host of heaven,
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,

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Planets, the bodies which move round the sun, so called

Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread from their wandering The globe are but a handful to the tribes 50 That slumber in its bosom.-Take the wings Of morning, and the Barcan desert* pierce, Or lose thyself in the continuous woods Where rolls the Oregon,* and hears no sound Save his own dashings-yet the dead are there;

55 And millions in these solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid them
down

In their last sleep-the dead there reign alone.
So shalt thou rest-and what if thou with-

draw

*

Unheeded by the living-and no friend

60 Take note of thy departure? All that breathe

or moving about among the other stars Barcan desert, a barren and desert country, near Tripolis, in the north of Africa. Oregon, a river in the State of Oregon (U.S.), bordering the Pacific Ocean.

on

Unheeded, unnoticed.

Will share thy destiny.* The gay will laugh Destiny, fate, end.
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care

Plod on, and each one, as before, will chase

35 His favourite phantom; * yet all these shall Phantom, idea.

leave

Their mirth and their employments, and shall

come

And make their bed* with thee. As the long Bed, grave.
train

Of ages glide away, the sons of men,

The youth in life's green spring, and he who

goes

70 In the full strength of years, matron,* and Matron, a mother, an

maid,

And the sweet babe, and the grey-headed

man

Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,
By those who, in their turn, shall follow them.
So live, that, when thy summons comes to
join

*

75 The innumerable caravan,* that moves

elderly woman.

Summons, a call to
appear.
Caravan, a travelling
company.

I

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