Young's Night Thoughts Part 33

How sorrowful, how desolate, she weeps Perpetual dews, and saddens nature's scene!

A scene more sad sin makes the darken'd soul, All comfort kills, nor leaves one spark alive. 1983 Though blind of heart, still open is thine eye: Why such magnificence in all thou seest?

Of matter's grandeur, know, one end is this, To tell the rational, who gazes on it-- "Though that immensely great, still greater He, Whose breast, capacious, can embrace, and lodge, Unburden'd, nature's universal scheme; 1990 Can grasp creation with a single thought; Creation grasp; and not exclude its Sire"-- To tell him farther--"It behoves him much To guard th' important, yet depending, fate Of being, brighter than a thousand suns: One single ray of thought outs.h.i.+nes them all."-- And if man hears obedient, soon he'll soar Superior heights, and on his purple wing, His purple wing bedropp'd with eyes of gold, Rising, where thought is now denied to rise, 2000 Look down triumphant on these dazzling spheres.

Why then persist?--No mortal ever lived But, dying, he p.r.o.nounced (when words are true) The whole that charms thee, absolutely vain; Vain, and far worse!--Think thou, with dying men; Oh, condescend to think as angels think!

Oh, tolerate a chance for happiness!

Our nature such, ill choice ensures ill fate; And h.e.l.l had been, though there had been no G.o.d.

Dost thou not know, my new astronomer! 2010 Earth, turning from the sun, brings night to man?

Man, turning from his G.o.d, brings endless night; Where thou canst read no morals, find no friend, Amend no manners, and expect no peace.

How deep the darkness! and the groan, how loud!

And far, how far, from lambent are the flames!-- Such is Lorenzo's purchase! such his praise!

The proud, the politic, Lorenzo's praise!

Though in his ear, and levell'd at his heart, I've half read o'er the volume of the skies. 2020 For think not thou hast heard all this from me; My song but echoes what great Nature speaks.

What has she spoken? Thus the G.o.ddess spoke, Thus speaks for ever:--"Place, at nature's head, A sovereign, which o'er all things rolls his eye, Extends his wing, promulgates his commands, But, above all, diffuses endless good; To whom, for sure redress, the wrong'd may fly; The vile, for mercy; and the pain'd, for peace; By whom, the various tenants of these spheres, 2030 Diversified in fortunes, place, and powers, Raised in enjoyment, as in worth they rise, Arrive at length (if worthy such approach) At that bless'd fountain-head, from which they stream; Where conflict past redoubles present joy; And present joy looks forward on increase; And that, on more; no period! every step A double boon! a promise, and a bliss."

How easy sits this scheme on human hearts!

It suits their make; it soothes their vast desires; 2040 Pa.s.sion is pleased; and Reason asks no more; 'Tis rational! 'tis great!--But what is thine?

It darkens! shocks! excruciates! and confounds!

Leaves us quite naked, both of help, and hope, 2044 Sinking from bad to worse; few years, the sport Of Fortune; then the morsel of Despair.

Say, then, Lorenzo! (for thou know'st it well) What's vice?--Mere want of compa.s.s in our thought.

Religion, what?--The proof of common sense.

How art thou hooted, where the least prevails!

Is it my fault, if these truths call thee fool?

And thou shalt never be miscall'd by me. 2052 Can neither shame, nor terror, stand thy friend; And art thou still an insect in the mire?

How, like thy guardian angel, have I flown; s.n.a.t.c.h'd thee from earth; escorted thee through all Th' ethereal armies; walk'd thee, like a G.o.d, Through splendours of first magnitude, arranged On either hand; clouds thrown beneath thy feet; Close cruised on the bright paradise of G.o.d; 2060 And almost introduced thee to the Throne!

And art thou still carousing, for delight, Rank poison; first, fermenting to mere froth, And then subsiding into final gall?

To beings of sublime, immortal make, How shocking is all joy, whose end is sure!

Such joy, more shocking still, the more it charms!

And dost thou choose what ends ere well begun; And infamous, as short? And dost thou choose (Thou, to whose palate glory is so sweet) 2070 To wade into perdition, through contempt, Not of poor bigots only, but thy own?

For I have peep'd into thy cover'd heart, And seen it blush beneath a boastful brow; For, by strong guilt's most violent a.s.sault, Conscience is but disabled, not destroy'd.

O thou most awful being, and most vain!

Thy will, how frail! how glorious is thy power! 2078 Though dread eternity has sown her seeds Of bliss, and woe, in thy despotic breast; Though heaven, and h.e.l.l, depend upon thy choice; A b.u.t.terfly comes cross, and both are fled.

Is this the picture of a rational?

This horrid image, shall it be most just?

Lorenzo! no: it cannot,--shall not, be, If there is force in reason; or, in sounds Chanted beneath the glimpses of the moon, A magic, at this planetary hour, When slumber locks the general lip, and dreams Through senseless mazes hunt souls uninspired. 2090 Attend--the sacred mysteries begin-- My solemn night-born adjuration hear; Hear, and I'll raise thy spirit from the dust; While the stars gaze on this enchantment new; Enchantment, not infernal, but divine!

"By silence, Death's peculiar attribute; By darkness, Guilt's inevitable doom; By Darkness, and by Silence, sisters dread!

That draw the curtain round Night's ebon throne, And raise ideas, solemn as the scene! 2100 By Night, and all of awful, Night presents To thought, or sense (of awful much, to both, The G.o.ddess brings)! By these her trembling fires, Like Vesta's, ever burning; and, like hers, Sacred to thoughts immaculate, and pure!

By these bright orators, that prove, and praise, And press thee to revere, the Deity; Perhaps, too, aid thee, when revered a while, To reach his throne; as stages of the soul, Through which, at different periods, she shall pa.s.s, 2110 Refining gradual, for her final height, And purging off some dross at every sphere! 2112 By this dark pall thrown o'er the silent world!

By the world's kings, and kingdoms, most renown'd, From short ambition's zenith set for ever; Sad presage to vain boasters, now in bloom!

By the long list of swift mortality, From Adam downward to this evening knell, Which midnight waves in Fancy's startled eye; And shocks her with an hundred centuries, 2120 Round Death's black banner throng'd, in human thought!

By thousands, now, resigning their last breath, And calling thee--wert thou so wise to hear!

By tombs o'er tombs arising; human earth Ejected, to make room for--human earth; The monarch's terror! and the s.e.xton's trade!

By pompous obsequies that shun the day, The torch funereal, and the nodding plume, Which makes poor man's humiliation proud; Boast of our ruin! triumph of our dust! 2130 By the damp vault that weeps o'er royal bones; And the pale lamp that shows the ghastly dead, More ghastly, through the thick inc.u.mbent gloom!

By visits (if there are) from darker scenes, The gliding spectre! and the groaning grave!

By groans, and graves, and miseries that groan For the grave's shelter! By desponding men, Senseless to pains of death, from pangs of guilt!

By guilt's last audit! By yon moon in blood, The rocking firmament, the falling stars, 2140 And thunder's last discharge, great nature's knell!

By second chaos; and eternal night"-- Be wise--nor let Philander blame my charm; But own not ill discharged my double debt, Love to the living; duty to the dead.

For know I'm but executor; he left 2146 This moral legacy; I make it o'er By his command; Philander hear in me; And Heaven in both.--If deaf to these, oh! hear Florello's tender voice; his weal depends On thy resolve; it trembles at thy choice; For his sake--love thyself. Example strikes All human hearts; a bad example more; 2153 More still a father's; that ensures his ruin.

As parent of his being, would'st thou prove Th' unnatural parent of his miseries, And make him curse the being which thou gavest?

Is this the blessing of so fond a father?

If careless of Lorenzo! spare, oh! spare Florello's father, and Philander's friend! 2160 Florello's father ruin'd, ruins him; And from Philander's friend the world expects A conduct, no dishonour to the dead.

Let pa.s.sion do, what n.o.bler motive should; Let love, and emulation, rise in aid To reason; and persuade thee to be--blest.

This seems not a request to be denied; Yet (such th' infatuation of mankind!) 'Tis the most hopeless, man can make to man.

Shall I then rise, in argument, and warmth? 2170 And urge Philander's posthumous advice, From topics yet unbroach'd?---- But, oh! I faint! my spirits fail!--Nor strange!

So long on wing, and in no middle clime!

To which my great Creator's glory call'd: And calls--but, now, in vain. Sleep's dewy wand Has stroked my drooping lips, and promises My long arrear of rest; the downy G.o.d (Wont to return with our returning peace) Will pay, ere long, and bless me with repose. 2180 Haste, haste, sweet stranger! from the peasant's cot, The s.h.i.+pboy's hammock, or the soldier's straw, Whence sorrow never chased thee; with thee bring, Not hideous visions, as of late; but draughts Delicious of well-tasted, cordial, rest; Man's rich restorative; his balmy bath, That supples, lubricates, and keeps in play The various movements of this nice machine, Which asks such frequent periods of repair.

When tired with vain rotations of the day, 2190 Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dawn; Fresh we spin on, till sickness clogs our wheels, Or death quite breaks the spring, and motion ends.

When will it end with me?

----"Thou only know'st, Thou, whose broad eye the future, and the past, Joins to the present; making one of three To moral thought! Thou know'st, and Thou alone, All-knowing!--all unknown!--and yet well known!

Near, though remote! and, though unfathom'd, felt! 2200 And, though invisible, for ever seen!

And seen in all! the great and the minute: Each globe above, with its gigantic race, Each flower, each leaf, with its small people swarm'd, (Those puny vouchers of Omnipotence!) To the first thought, that asks, 'From whence?' declare Their common source. Thou Fountain, running o'er In rivers of communicated joy!

Who gavest us speech for far, far humbler themes!

Say, by what name shall I presume to call 2210 Him I see burning in these countless suns, As Moses, in the bush? Ill.u.s.trious Mind!

The whole creation, less, far less, to Thee, Than that to the creation's ample round. 2214 How shall I name Thee?--How my labouring soul Heaves underneath the thought, too big for birth!

"Great System of perfections! Mighty Cause Of causes mighty! Cause uncaused! sole Root Of nature, that luxuriant growth of G.o.d!

First Father of effects! that progeny Of endless series; where the golden chain's Last link admits a period, who can tell? 2222 Father of all that is or heard, or hears!

Father of all that is or seen, or sees!

Father of all that is, or shall arise!

Father of this immeasurable ma.s.s Of matter multiform; or dense, or rare; Opaque, or lucid; rapid, or at rest; Minute, or pa.s.sing bound! in each extreme Of like amaze, and mystery, to man. 2230 Father of these bright millions of the night!

Of which the least full G.o.dhead had proclaim'd, And thrown the gazer on his knee--or, say, Is appellation higher still, Thy choice?

Father of matter's temporary lords!

Father of spirits! n.o.bler offspring! sparks Of high paternal glory; rich endow'd With various measures, and with various modes Of instinct, reason, intuition; beams More pale, or bright from day divine, to break 2240 The dark of matter organized (the ware Of all created spirit); beams, that rise Each over other in superior light, Till the last ripens into l.u.s.tre strong, Of next approach to G.o.dhead. Father fond (Far fonder than e'er bore that name on earth) Of intellectual beings! beings bless'd With powers to please Thee; not of pa.s.sive ply 2248 To laws they know not; beings lodged in seats Of well-adapted joys, in different domes Of this imperial palace for thy sons; Of this proud, populous, well policied, Though boundless habitation, plann'd by Thee: Whose several clans their several climates suit; And transposition, doubtless, would destroy.

Or, oh! indulge, immortal King, indulge A t.i.tle, less august indeed, but more Endearing; ah! how sweet in human ears!

Sweet in our ears, and triumph in our hearts!

Father of immortality to man! 2260 A theme that lately[74] set my soul on fire.-- And Thou the next! yet equal! Thou, by whom That blessing was convey'd; far more! was bought; Ineffable the price! by whom all worlds Were made; and one redeem'd! ill.u.s.trious Light From Light ill.u.s.trious! Thou, whose regal power, Finite in time, but infinite in s.p.a.ce, On more than adamantine basis fix'd, O'er more, far more, than diadems, and thrones, Inviolably reigns; the dread of G.o.ds! 2270 And oh! the friend of man! beneath whose foot, And by the mandate of whose awful nod, All regions, revolutions, fortunes, fates, Of high, of low, of mind, and matter, roll Through the short channels of expiring time, Or sh.o.r.eless ocean of eternity, Calm, or tempestuous (as thy Spirit breathes), In absolute subjection!--And, O Thou The glorious Third! distinct, not separate!

Beaming from both! with both incorporate; 2280 And (strange to tell!) incorporate with dust! 2281 By condescension, as Thy glory, great, Enshrined in man! Of human hearts, if pure, Divine inhabitant! The tie divine Of heaven with distant earth! by whom, I trust (If not inspired), uncensured this address To Thee, to Them--to whom?--Mysterious Power!

Reveal'd--yet unreveal'd! darkness in light; Number in unity! our joy! our dread!

The triple bolt that lays all wrong in ruin! 2290 That animates all right, the triple sun!

Sun of the soul! her never-setting sun!

Triune, unutterable, unconceived, Absconding, yet demonstrable, Great G.o.d!

Greater than greatest! better than the best!

Kinder than kindest! with soft pity's eye, Or (stronger still to speak it) with Thine own, From Thy bright home, from that high firmament, Where Thou, from all eternity, hast dwelt; Beyond archangels' una.s.sisted ken; 2300 From far above what mortals highest call; From elevation's pinnacle; look down, Through--what? Confounding interval! through all And more than labouring Fancy can conceive; Through radiant ranks of essences unknown; Through hierarchies from hierarchies detach'd Round various banners of Omnipotence, With endless change of rapturous duties fired; Through wondrous being's interposing swarms, All cl.u.s.tering at the call, to dwell in Thee; 2310 Through this wide waste of worlds! this vista vast, All sanded o'er with suns; suns turn'd to night Before thy feeblest beam--Look down--down--down, On a poor breathing particle in dust, Or, lower, an immortal in his crimes. 2315 His crimes forgive! forgive his virtues, too!

Those smaller faults, half converts to the right.

Nor let me close these eyes, which never more May see the sun (though night's descending scale Now weighs up morn), unpitied, and unblest!

In Thy displeasure dwells eternal pain; Pain, our aversion; pain, which strikes me now; And, since all pain is terrible to man, 2323 Though transient, terrible; at Thy good hour, Gently, ah, gently, lay me in my bed, My clay-cold bed! by nature, now, so near; By nature, near; still nearer by disease!

Till then, be this an emblem of my grave: Let it out-preach the preacher; every night Let it out-cry the boy at Philip's ear;[75] 2330 That tongue of death! that herald of the tomb!

And when (the shelter of Thy wing implored) My senses, soothed, shall sink in soft repose, Oh, sink this truth still deeper in my soul, Suggested by my pillow, sign'd by fate, First, in Fate's volume, at the page of man-- Man's sickly soul, though turn'd and toss'd for ever, From side to side, can rest on nought but Thee: Here, in full trust, hereafter, in full joy; On Thee, the promised, sure, eternal down 2340 Of spirits, toil'd in travel through this vale.

Nor of that pillow shall my soul despond; For--Love almighty! Love almighty! (sing, Exult, creation!) Love almighty, reigns!

That death of Death! that cordial of despair!

And loud Eternity's triumphant song!

"Of whom, no more:--For, O thou Patron-G.o.d!

Thou G.o.d and mortal! thence more G.o.d to man! 2348 Man's theme eternal! man's eternal theme!

Thou canst not 'scape uninjured from our praise.

Uninjured from our praise can He escape, Who, disembosom'd from the Father, bows The heaven of heavens, to kiss the distant earth!

Breathes out in agonies a sinless soul!

Against the cross, Death's iron sceptre breaks!

From famish'd Ruin plucks her human prey!

Throws wide the gates celestial to his foes!

Their grat.i.tude, for such a boundless debt, Deputes their suffering brothers to receive!

And, if deep human guilt in payment fails; 2360 As deeper guilt prohibits our despair!

Enjoins it, as our duty, to rejoice!

And (to close all) omnipotently kind, Takes his delights among the sons of men."[76]