Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/56

42 Hung obvious to my view: till opening wide Its lucid orb, a more than human form Emerging lean'd majestic o'er my head, And instant thunder shook the conscious grove. Then melted into air the liquid cloud, And all the shining vision stood reveal'd. A wreath of palm his ample forehead bound, And o'er his shoulder, mantling to his knee, Flow'd the transparent robe, around his waist Collected with a radiant zone of gold Æthereal: there in mystic signs ingrav'd, I read his office high and sacred name, Genius of human kind. Appall'd I gaz'd The godlike presence; for athwart his brow Displeasure, temper'd with a mild concern, Look'd down reluctant on me, and his words Like distant thunders broke the murm'ring air.


 * Vain are thy thoughts, O child of mortal birth,

And impotent thy tongue. Is thy short span Capacious of this universal frame? Thy wisdom all sufficient? Thou, alas! Dost thou aspire to judge between the Lord Of nature and his works? to lift thy voice Against the sov'reign order he decreed All good and lovely? to blaspheme the bands Of tenderness innate and social love, Holiest of things! by which the general orb Of