Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/39

 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 23 •' Where lately, armed for deadly strife " You, too, can run each poet's round, With tomahawk and scalping-kiiife, Can wander wide o'er classic ground, The natives strove ; lu thoughtful mood. Now dove-eyed Peace triumphant reigns, Where famed Parnassus towers on high, And o'er the cultivated plains. Or Tempe's blooming valleys lie, In converse sweet, gay nymphs and swains Or old Scamander wanders by Delighted rove. Where Ilion stood. " Here pause ; and with prospective glass " For know, the Bard is Fancy's child : Behold new ages as they pass Whate'er is grand, or strange, or wild, In long review : His genius moves ; Behold the various beasts of prey. His pathway lies o'er fairy-gTound, And red men more untamed than they, Where Sylphs and Genii guard him round ; Become extinct, or pass away Through realms on high and depths profound To regions new. His spirit roves. " See teeming cities rise beside " A hermit 'midst the crowd of men. Missouri's and Columbia's tide, Through Nature's works his restive ken And where the snow Excursive flies: On Chipewan's high summit gleams ; Though on the present moments cast. Lo ! fields, and meads, and lakes, and streams. He lives, in thought, through all the past. Now open to the sun's bright beams, And those to come, while time shall last Resplendent glow. To earth and skies. " See turnpikes and canals connect " He journeys, careless of a path Oceans which continents dissect ; Where the rude tempest in its wrath See Trade rescind Spreads ruin wde ; The orders which she gave before. Or through the dense, untrodden wood — And bring ft-om the Pacific's shore. Creation's gloomiest solitude — O'er western mountains, to each door O'er mountains, by the cataract flood, The stores of Ind. Or ocean-side. '' And still to your aspiring song. " And learn this truth, my pupils dear. In common, other themes belong : Where'er you journey, or whate'er The fertile field. The plans you lay. Where nobler bards their laurels raise Let Truth and Nature be your guide : (A boon which all their toil repays). The moment you desert their side, As large a wreath of fadeless bays Through trackless wilds you wander wide. To you may yield. And lose your way. " You, too, can aid the noble task " Who leaves their fire, to warm his heart Vice to expose, when she the mask By the cold and dubious light of Art, Of Virtue wears ; With gaudy flowers From scandal's shafts the good to save, May please young Fancy for a time. From coward-tongues to shield the brave, And charm with brilliancy of rhyme ; And show the proud and wealthy knave But ne'er can reach the true sublime, The heart he bears. With all his powers. " You, too, can Virtue's laws maintain, " Art is the ignis fatuus ray Defend Religion's sacred fane That leads the wanderer's feet astray ; 'Gainst atheist-arms ; Fancy, a gleam — And from the cold o'erclouded night The meteor flashes, and 'tis gone ; Of lone obscurity, to light But Nature is the unwearied sun, Of glorious day, lead genius bright That gives whate'er he shines upon In all his charms. A glorious beam.