Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/343

Rh Thy sharp upbraidings urge Against the 'unrighteous deed, Till thine accursed mother shall expire, And a new world spring forth from renovating fire. O ! when the glare of day is fled, And calm, beneath the evening star, Reflection leans her pensive head, And calls the passions to her solemn bar ; Reviews the censure rash, the hasty word, The purposed act too long deferred, Of time the wasted treasures lent, And fair occasions lost and golden hours misspent : When anxious Memory numbers o'er Each offered prize we failed to seize ; Or friends laid low, whom now no more Our fondest love can serve or please, And thou, dread power ! bring'st back in terrors drest, The' irrevocable past, to sting the careless breast ;