Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/255

 THE PIIILOSOniRR IX SEARCH OE A RELIGION 245

How worthless an Elysium to the wise,

Peopled by such ! Sure 'twere small joy to meet

Tyrants and hypocrites with upturned eyes, Puflfing with pride on each celestial seat ;

'Twere a far happier destiny to dwell.

With wise and Sfood, in a more virtuous hell.

��Lo, where, by all despised, the homeless Jew

Views wistfully the lost land of his birth ; Faithful to old things rather than to new,

Oppressed by all, he wanders o'er the earth, Shunned e'en by him whose doctrine is but love ! Surely, the serpent hath devoured the dove.

Slaves 'neath the cross, Ham's sons, by Pleavcn's command.

Water a stranger soil with sweat and tears ; Slaves 'neath the crescent, Japhet's children stand ;

For truth in Spain grows falsehood in Algiers. In each, to piety fraud makes profession ; Power never yet lacked reasons for oppression.

Still Avarice in extortion must grow gray.

And Virtue fly to solitude from wrong ; For Innocence is Cunning's natural pre}',

The weak find ever bloodhounds in the strong; While Self, the hunter, with the whip of creed, Lashes his dogs to ravage at full speed.

See, through the world, what endless train of ills

Mankind to a blind fate ascribe — the wise To Ignorance, whom his own letter kills ;

Doomed slave of craft, and with hoodwinked eyes Led on by armed Religion to defend Fraud, force, and hate, in guilt that hath no end.

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