Page:The Domestic Affections, and Other Poems.pdf/120



Where Echo sleeps, in loneliness profound, Hears not a step, nor quivers at a sound! Yet there the genius of eternal snows, Mark'd far beneath, a scene of death disclose! Saw the red combat raging on the plain, Heard the deep dirge that murmur'd o'er the slain! While stern Ambition wak'd th' exulting cry, And wav'd his blazing torch, and meteor-flag, on high!

Yet, ah! not there, vindictive pow'r! alone, Has lawless carnage rear'd thy towering throne; For Europe's polish'd realms, thro' every age, Have mourn'd thy triumphs and bewail'd thy rage! Tho' soft refinement there, o'er ev'ry land, Spread the mild empire of her silver wand; Erect supreme, her light Corinthian fane, Tune the sweet lyre, and modulate the strain; Tho' Genius there, on Rapture's pinions soar, And worlds of ether and of fire, explore;