Page:The Grave, a poem, 1808 (1903).djvu/37

 THE GRAVE

WHILST some affect the sun, and some the


 * shade,

Some flee the city, some the hermitage;

Their aims as various as the roads they take

In journeying through life; the task be mine

To paint the gloomy horrors of the tomb;

Th' appointed place of rendezvous, where all

These trav'llers meet. Thy succours I implore,

Eternal King! whose potent arm sustains

The keys of hell and death. The Grave, dread


 * thing !

Men shiver when thou'rt nam'd: nature appall'd

Shakes off her wonted firmness. Ah! how dark

Thy long-extended realms, and rueful wastes,

Where nought but silence reigns, and night, dark


 * night,

Dark as was chaos ere the infant sun

Was roll'd together, or had tried his beams

Athwart the gloom profound! The sickly taper,

By glimm'ring through thy low-brow'd misty


 * vaults,

Furr'd round with mouldy damps and ropy slime,


 * I