[ { "title": "Goliath Of Gath", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "SAMUEL, Chap. xvii.", "", "YE martial pow'rs, and all ye tuneful nine,", "Inspire my song, and aid my high design.", "The dreadful scenes and toils of war I write,", "The ardent warriors, and the fields of fight:", "You best remember, and you best can sing", "The acts of heroes to the vocal string:", "Resume the lays with which your sacred lyre,", "Did then the poet and the sage inspire.", "Now front to front the armies were display'd,", "Here Israel rang'd, and there the foes array'd;", "The hosts on two opposing mountains stood,", "Thick as the foliage of the waving wood;", "Between them an extensive valley lay,", "O'er which the gleaming armour pour'd the day,", "When from the camp of the Philistine foes,", "Dreadful to view, a mighty warrior rose;", "In the dire deeds of bleeding battle skill'd,", "The monster stalks the terror of the field.", "From Gath he sprung, Goliath was his name,", "Of fierce deportment, and gigantic frame:", "A brazen helmet on his head was plac'd,", "A coat of mail his form terrific grac'd,", "The greaves his legs, the targe his shoulders prest:", "Dreadful in arms high-tow'ring o'er the rest", "A spear he proudly wav'd, whose iron head,", "Strange to relate, six hundred shekels weigh'd;", "He strode along, and shook the ample field,", "While Phoebus blaz'd refulgent on his shield:", "Through Jacob's race a chilling horror ran,", "When thus the huge, enormous chief began:", "\"Say, what the cause that in this proud array", "\"You set your battle in the face of day?", "\"One hero find in all your vaunting train,", "\"Then see who loses, and who wins the plain;", "\"For he who wins, in triumph may demand", "\"Perpetual service from the vanquish'd land:", "\"Your armies I defy, your force despise,", "\"By far inferior in Philistia's eyes:", "\"Produce a man, and let us try the fight,", "\"Decide the contest, and the victor's right.\"", "Thus challeng'd he: all Israel stood amaz'd,", "And ev'ry chief in consternation gaz'd;", "But Jesse's son in youthful bloom appears,", "And warlike courage far beyond his years:", "He left the folds, he left the flow'ry meads,", "And soft recesses of the sylvan shades.", "Now Israel's monarch, and his troops arise,", "With peals of shouts ascending to the skies;", "In Elah's vale the scene of combat lies.", "When the fair morning blush'd with orient red,", "What David's fire enjoin'd the son obey'd,", "And swift of foot towards the trench he came,", "Where glow'd each bosom with the martial flame.", "He leaves his carriage to another's care,", "And runs to greet his brethren of the war.", "While yet they spake the giant-chief arose,", "Repeats the challenge, and insults his foes:", "Struck with the sound, and trembling at the view,", "Affrighted Israel from its post withdrew.", "\"Observe ye this tremendous foe, they cry'd,", "\"Who in proud vaunts our armies hath defy'd:", "\"Whoever lays him prostrate on the plain,", "\"Freedom in Israel for his house shall gain;", "\"And on him wealth unknown the king will pour,", "\"And give his royal daughter for his dow'r.\"", "Then Jesse's youngest hope: \"My brethren say,", "\"What shall be done for him who takes away", "\"Reproach from Jacob, who destroys the chief.", "\"And puts a period to his country's grief.", "\"He vaunts the honours of his arms abroad,", "\"And scorns the armies of the living God.\"", "Thus spoke the youth, th' attentive people ey'd", "The wond'rous hero, and again reply'd:", "\"Such the rewards our monarch will bestow,", "\"On him who conquers, and destroys his foe.\"", "Eliab heard, and kindled into ire", "To hear his shepherd brother thus inquire,", "And thus begun: \"What errand brought thee? say", "\"Who keeps thy flock? or does it go astray?", "\"I know the base ambition of thine heart,", "\"But back in safety from the field depart.\"", "Eliab thus to Jesse's youngest heir,", "Express'd his wrath in accents most severe.", "When to his brother mildly he reply'd.", "\"What have I done? or what the cause to chide?", "The words were told before the king, who sent", "For the young hero to his royal tent:", "Before the monarch dauntless he began,", "\"For this Philistine fail no heart of man:", "\"I'll take the vale, and with the giant fight:", "\"I dread not all his boasts, nor all his might.\"", "When thus the king: \"Dar'st thou a stripling go,", "\"And venture combat with so great a foe?", "\"Who all his days has been inur'd to fight,", "\"And made its deeds his study and delight:", "\"Battles and bloodshed brought the monster forth,", "\"And clouds and whirlwinds usher'd in his birth.\"", "When David thus: \"I kept the fleecy care,", "\"And out there rush'd a lion and a bear;", "\"A tender lamb the hungry lion took,", "\"And with no other weapon than my crook", "\"Bold I pursu'd, and chas d him o'er the field,", "\"The prey deliver'd, and the felon kill'd:", "\"As thus the lion and the bear I slew,", "\"So shall Goliath fall, and all his crew:", "\"The God, who sav'd me from these beasts of prey,", "\"By me this monster in the dust shall lay.\"", "So David spoke. The wond'ring king reply'd;", "\"Go thou with heav'n and victory on thy side:", "\"This coat of mail, this sword gird on,\" he said,", "And plac'd a mighty helmet on his head:", "The coat, the sword, the helm he laid aside,", "Nor chose to venture with those arms untry'd,", "Then took his staff, and to the neighb'ring brook", "Instant he ran, and thence five pebbles took.", "Mean time descended to Philistia's son", "A radiant cherub, and he thus begun:", "\"Goliath, well thou know'st thou hast defy'd", "\"Yon Hebrew armies, and their God deny'd:", "\"Rebellious wretch! audacious worm! forbear,", "\"Nor tempt the vengeance of their God too far:", "\"Them, who with his Omnipotence contend,", "\"No eye shall pity, and no arm defend:", "\"Proud as thou art, in short liv'd glory great,", "\"I come to tell thee thine approaching fate.", "\"Regard my words. The Judge of all the gods,", "\"Beneath whose steps the tow'ring mountain nods,", "\"Will give thine armies to the savage brood,", "\"That cut the liquid air, or range the wood.", "\"Thee too a well-aim'd pebble shall destroy,", "\"And thou shalt perish by a beardless boy:", "\"Such is the mandate from the realms above,", "\"And should I try the vengeance to remove,", "\"Myself a rebel to my king would prove.", "\"Goliath say, shall grace to him be shown,", "\"Who dares heav'ns Monarch, and insults his throne?\"", "\"Your words are lost on me,\" the giant cries,", "While fear and wrath contended in his eyes,", "When thus the messenger from heav'n replies:", "\"Provoke no more Jehovah's awful hand", "\"To hurl its vengeance on thy guilty land:", "\"He grasps the thunder, and, he wings the storm,", "\"Servants their sov'reign's orders to perform.\"", "The angel spoke, and turn'd his eyes away,", "Adding new radiance to the rising day.", "Now David comes: the fatal stones demand", "His left, the staff engag'd his better hand:", "The giant mov'd, and from his tow'ring height", "Survey'd the stripling, and disdain'd the fight,", "And thus began: \"Am I a dog with thee?", "\"Bring'st thou no armour, but a staff to me?", "\"The gods on thee their vollied curses pour,", "\"And beasts and birds of prey thy flesh devour.\"", "David undaunted thus, \"Thy spear and shield", "\"Shall no protection to thy body yield:", "\"Jehovah's name------no other arms I bear,", "\"I ask no other in this glorious war.", "\"To-day the Lord of Hosts to me will give", "\"Vict'ry, to-day thy doom thou shalt receive;", "\"The fate you threaten shall your own become,", "\"And beasts shall be your animated tomb,", "\"That all the earth's inhabitants may know", "\"That there's a God, who governs all below:", "\"This great assembly too shall witness stand,", "\"That needs nor sword, nor spear, th' Almighty's", "hand:", "\"The battle his, the conquest he bestows,", "\"And to our pow'r consigns our hated foes.\"", "Thus David spoke; Goliath heard and came", "To meet the hero in the field of fame.", "Ah! fatal meeting to thy troops and thee,", "But thou wast deaf to the divine decree;", "Young David meets thee, meets thee not in vain;", "'Tis thine to perish on th' ensanguin'd plain.", "And now the youth the forceful pebble slung", "Philistia trembled as it whizz'd along:", "In his dread forehead, where the helmet ends,", "Just o'er the brows the well-aim'd stone descends,", "It pierc'd the skull, and shatter'd all the brain,", "Prone on his face he tumbled to the plain:", "Goliath's fall no smaller terror yields", "Than riving thunders in aerial fields:", "The soul still ling'red in its lov'd abode,", "Till conq'ring David o'er the giant strode:", "Goliath's sword then laid its master dead,", "And from the body hew'd the ghastly head;", "The blood in gushing torrents drench'd the plains,", "The soul found passage through the spouting veins.", "And now aloud th' illustrious victor said,", "\"Where are your boastings now your champion's", "\"dead?\"", "Scarce had he spoke, when the Philistines fled:", "But fled in vain; the conqu'ror swift pursu'd:", "What scenes of slaughter! and what seas of blood!", "There Saul thy thousands grasp'd th' impurpled sand", "In pangs of death the conquest of thine hand;", "And David there were thy ten thousands laid:", "Thus Israel's damsels musically play'd.", "Near Gath and Edron many an hero lay,", "Breath'd out their souls, and curs'd the light of day:", "Their fury, quench'd by death, no longer burns,", "And David with Goliath's head returns,", "To Salem brought, but in his tent he plac'd", "The load of armour which the giant grac'd.", "His monarch saw him coming from the war,", "And thus demanded of the son of Ner.", "\"Say, who is this amazing youth?\" he cry'd,", "When thus the leader of the host reply'd;", "\"As lives thy soul I know not whence he sprung,", "\"So great in prowess though in years so young:\"", "\"Inquire whose son is he,\" the sov'reign said,", "\"Before whose conq'ring arm Philistia fled.\"", "Before the king behold the stripling stand,", "Goliath's head depending from his hand:", "To him the king: \"Say of what martial line", "\"Art thou, young hero, and what sire was thine?\"", "He humbly thus; \"The son of Jesse I:", "\"I came the glories of the field to try.", "\"Small is my tribe, but valiant in the fight;", "\"Small is my city, but thy royal right.\"", "\"Then take the promis'd gifts,\" the monarch cry'd,", "Conferring riches and the royal bride:", "\"Knit to my soul for ever thou remain", "\"With me, nor quit my regal roof again.\"" ], "linecount": "225" }, { "title": "On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "Ere yet the morn its lovely blushes spread,", "See Sewell number'd with the happy dead.", "Hail, holy man, arriv'd th' immortal shore,", "Though we shall hear thy warning voice no more.", "Come, let us all behold with wishful eyes", "The saint ascending to his native skies;", "From hence the prophet wing'd his rapt'rous way", "To the blest mansions in eternal day.", "Then begging for the Spirit of our God,", "", "And panting eager for the same abode,", "Come, let us all with the same vigour rise,", "And take a prospect of the blissful skies;", "While on our minds Christ's image is imprest,", "And the dear Saviour glows in ev'ry breast.", "Thrice happy faint! to find thy heav'n at last,", "What compensation for the evils past!", "Great God, incomprehensible, unknown", "By sense, we bow at thine exalted throne.", "O, while we beg thine excellence to feel,", "", "Thy sacred Spirit to our hearts reveal,", "And give us of that mercy to partake,", "Which thou hast promis'd for the Saviour's sake!", "\"Sewell is dead.\" Swift-pinion'd Fame thus cry'd.", "\"Is Sewell dead,\" my trembling tongue reply'd,", "O what a blessing in his flight deny'd!", "How oft for us the holy prophet pray'd!", "How oft to us the Word of Life convey'd!", "By duty urg'd my mournful verse to close,", "I for his tomb this epitaph compose.", "", "\"Lo, here a man, redeem'd by Jesus's blood,", "\"A sinner once, but now a saint with God;", "\"Behold ye rich, ye poor, ye fools, ye wise,", "\"Not let his monument your heart surprise;", "\"Twill tell you what this holy man has done,", "\"Which gives him brighter lustre than the sun.", "\"Listen, ye happy, from your seats above.", "\"I speak sincerely, while I speak and love,", "\"He sought the paths of piety and truth,", "\"By these made happy from his early youth;", "", "\"In blooming years that grace divine he felt,", "\"Which rescues sinners from the chains of guilt.", "\"Mourn him, ye indigent, whom he has fed,", "\"And henceforth seek, like him, for living bread;", "\"Ev'n Christ, the bread descending from above,", "\"And ask an int'rest in his saving love.", "\"Mourn him, ye youth, to whom he oft has told", "\"God's gracious wonders from the times of old.", "\"I too have cause this mighty loss to mourn,", "\"For he my monitor will not return.", "", "\"O when shall we to his blest state arrive?", "\"When the same graces in our bosoms thrive.\"" ], "linecount": "51" }, { "title": "Niobe in Distress", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "Apollo's wrath to man the dreadful spring", "Of ills innum'rous, tuneful goddess, sing!", "Thou who did'st first th' ideal pencil give,", "And taught'st the painter in his works to live,", "Inspire with glowing energy of thought,", "What Wilson painted, and what Ovid wrote.", "Muse! lend thy aid, nor let me sue in vain,", "Tho' last and meanest of the rhyming train!", "O guide my pen in lofty strains to show", "The Phrygian queen, all beautiful in woe.", "'Twas where Maeonia spreads her wide domain", "Niobe dwelt, and held her potent reign:", "See in her hand the regal sceptre shine,", "The wealthy heir of Tantalus divine,", "He most distinguish'd by Dodonean Jove,", "To approach the tables of the gods above:", "Her grandsire Atlas, who with mighty pains", "Th' ethereal axis on his neck sustains:", "Her other grandsire on the throne on high", "Rolls the loud-pealing thunder thro' the sky.", "", "Her spouse, Amphion, who from Jove too springs,", "Divinely taught to sweep the sounding strings.", "", "Seven sprightly sons the royal bed adorn,", "Seven daughters beauteous as the op'ning morn,", "As when Aurora fills the ravish'd sight,", "And decks the orient realms with rosy light", "From their bright eyes the living splendors play,", "Nor can beholders bear the flashing ray.", "", "Wherever, Niobe, thou turn'st thine eyes,", "New beauties kindle, and new joys arise!", "But thou had'st far the happier mother prov'd,", "If this fair offspring had been less belov'd:", "What if their charms exceed Aurora's teint.", "No words could tell them, and no pencil paint,", "Thy love too vehement hastens to destroy", "Each blooming maid, and each celestial boy.", "", "Now Manto comes, endu'd with mighty skill,", "The past to explore, the future to reveal.", "Thro' Thebes' wide streets Tiresia's daughter came,", "Divine Latona's mandate to proclaim:", "The Theban maids to hear the orders ran,", "When thus Maeonia's prophetess began:", "", "\"Go, Thebans! great Latona's will obey,", "\"And pious tribute at her altars pay:", "\"With rights divine, the goddess be implor'd,", "\"Nor be her sacred offspring unador'd.\"", "Thus Manto spoke. The Theban maids obey,", "And pious tribute to the goddess pay.", "The rich perfumes ascend in waving spires,", "And altars blaze with consecrated fires;", "The fair assembly moves with graceful air,", "And leaves of laurel bind the flowing hair.", "", "Niobe comes with all her royal race,", "With charms unnumber'd, and superior grace:", "Her Phrygian garments of delightful hue,", "Inwove with gold, refulgent to the view,", "Beyond description beautiful she moves", "Like heav'nly Venus, 'midst her smiles and loves:", "She views around the supplicating train,", "And shakes her graceful head with stern disdain,", "Proudly she turns around her lofty eyes,", "And thus reviles celestial deities:", "\"What madness drives the Theban ladies fair", "\"To give their incense to surrounding air?", "\"Say why this new sprung deity preferr'd?", "\"Why vainly fancy your petitions heard?", "\"Or say why Cæus offspring is obey'd,", "\"While to my goddesship no tribute's paid?", "\"For me no altars blaze with living fires,", "\"No bullock bleeds, no frankincense transpires,", "\"Tho' Cadmus' palace, not unknown to fame,", "\"And Phrygian nations all revere my name.", "\"Where'er I turn my eyes vast wealth I find,", "\"Lo! here an empress with a goddess join'd.", "\"What, shall a Titaness be deify'd,", "\"To whom the spacious earth a couch deny'd!", "\"Nor heav'n, nor earth, nor sea receiv'd your queen,", "\"Till pitying Delos took the wand'rer in.", "\"Round me what a large progeny is spread!", "\"No frowns of fortune has my soul to dread.", "\"What if indignant she decrease my train", "\"More than Latona's number will remain;", "\"Then hence, ye Theban dames, hence haste away,", "\"Nor longer off'rings to Latona pay;", "\"Regard the orders of Amphion's spouse,", "\"And take the leaves of laurel from your brows.\"", "Niobe spoke. The Theban maids obey'd,", "Their brows unbound, and left the rights unpaid.", "", "The angry goddess heard, then silence broke", "On Cynthus' summit, and indignant spoke;", "\"Phoebus! behold, thy mother in disgrace,", "\"Who to no goddess yields the prior place", "\"Except to Juno's self, who reigns above,", "\"The spouse and sister of the thund'ring Jove.", "\"Niobe, sprung from Tantalus, inspires", "\"Each Theban bosom with rebellious fires;", "\"No reason her imperious temper quells,", "\"But all her father in her tongue rebels;", "\"Wrap her own sons for her blaspheming breath,", "\"Apollo! wrap them in the shades of death.\"", "Latona ceas'd, and ardent thus replies", "The God, whose glory decks th' expanded skies.", "", "\"Cease thy complaints, mine be the task assign'd", "\"To punish pride, and scourge the rebel mind.\"", "This Phoebe join'd.--They wing their instant flight;", "Thebes trembled as th' immortal pow'rs alight.", "", "With clouds incompass'd glorious Phoebus stands;", "The feather'd vengeance quiv'ring in his hands.", "", "Near Cadmus' walls a plain extended lay,", "Where Thebes' young princes pass'd in sport the day:", "There the bold coursers bounded o'er the plains,", "While their great masters held the golden reins.", "Ismenus first the racing pastime led,", "And rul'd the fury of his flying steed.", "\"Ah me,\" he sudden cries, with shrieking breath,", "While in his breast he feels the shaft of death;", "He drops the bridle on his courser's mane,", "Before his eyes in shadows swims the plain,", "He, the first-born of great Amphion's bed,", "Was struck the first, first mingled with the dead.", "", "Then didst thou, Sipylus, the language hear", "Of fate portentous whistling in the air:", "As when th' impending storm the sailor sees", "He spreads his canvas to the fav'ring breeze,", "So to thine horse thou gav'st the golden reins,", "Gav'st him to rush impetuous o'er the plains:", "But ah! a fatal shaft from Phoebus' hand", "Smites thro' thy neck, and sinks thee on the sand.", "", "Two other brothers were at wrestling found,", "And in their pastime claspt each other round:", "A shaft that instant from Apollo's hand", "Transfixt them both, and stretcht them on the sand:", "Together they their cruel fate bemoan'd,", "Together languish'd, and together groan'd:", "Together too th' unbodied spirits fled,", "And sought the gloomy mansions of the dead.", "Alphenor saw, and trembling at the view,", "Beat his torn breast, that chang'd its snowy hue.", "He flies to raise them in a kind embrace;", "A brother's fondness triumphs in his face:", "Alphenor fails in this fraternal deed,", "A dart dispatch'd him (so the fates decreed", "Soon as the arrow left the deadly wound,", "His issuing entrails smoak'd upon the ground.", "What woes on blooming Damasichon wait!", "His sighs portend his near impending fate.", "Just where the well-made leg begins to be,", "And the soft sinews form the supple knee,", "The youth sore wounded by the Delian god", "Attempts t' extract the crime-avenging rod,", "But, whilst he strives the will of fate t' avert,", "Divine Apollo sends a second dart;", "Swift thro' his throat the feather'd mischief flies,", "Bereft of sense, he drops his head, and dies.", "", "Young Ilioneus, the last, directs his pray'r,", "And cries, \"My life, ye gods celestial! spare.\"", "Apollo heard, and pity touch'd his heart,", "But ah! too late, for he had sent the dart:", "Thou too, O Ilioneus, art doom'd to fall,", "The fates refuse that arrow to recal.", "", "On the swift wings of ever flying Fame", "To Cadmus' palace soon the tidings came:", "Niobe heard, and with indignant eyes", "She thus express'd her anger and surprise:", "\"Why is such privilege to them allow'd?", "\"Why thus insulted by the Delian god?", "\"Dwells there such mischief in the pow'rs above?", "\"Why sleeps the vengeance of immortal Jove?\"", "For now Amphion too, with grief oppress'd,", "Had plung'd the deadly dagger in his breast.", "Niobe now, less haughty than before,", "With lofty head directs her steps no more", "She, who late told her pedigree divine,", "And drove the Thebans from Latona's shrine,", "How strangely chang'd!--yet beautiful in woe,", "She weeps, nor weeps unpity'd by the foe.", "On each pale corse the wretched mother spread", "Lay overwhelm'd with grief, and kiss'd her dead,", "Then rais'd her arms, and thus, in accents slow,", "\"Be sated cruel Goddess! with my woe;", "\"If I've offended, let these streaming eyes,", "\"And let this sev'nfold funeral suffice:", "\"Ah! take this wretched life you deign'd to save,", "\"With them I too am carried to the grave.", "\"Rejoice triumphant, my victorious foe,", "\"But show the cause from whence your triumphs flow?", "\"Tho' I unhappy mourn these children slain,", "\"Yet greater numbers to my lot remain.\"", "She ceas'd, the bow string twang'd with awful sound,", "Which struck with terror all th' assembly round,", "Except the queen, who stood unmov'd alone,", "By her distresses more presumptuous grown.", "Near the pale corses stood their sisters fair", "In sable vestures and dishevell'd hair;", "One, while she draws the fatal shaft away,", "Faints, falls, and sickens at the light of day.", "To sooth her mother, lo! another flies,", "And blames the fury of inclement skies,", "And, while her words a filial pity show,", "Struck dumb--indignant seeks the shades below.", "Now from the fatal place another flies,", "Falls in her flight, and languishes, and dies.", "Another on her sister drops in death;", "A fifth in trembling terrors yields her breath;", "While the sixth seeks some gloomy cave in vain,", "Struck with the rest, and mingled with the slain.", "", "One only daughter lives, and she the least;", "The queen close clasp'd the daughter to her breast:", "\"Ye heav'nly pow'rs, ah spare me one,\" she cry'd,", "\"Ah! spare me one,\" the vocal hills reply'd:", "In vain she begs, the Fates her suit deny,", "In her embrace she sees her daughter die.", "", "*\"The queen of all her family bereft,", "\"Without or husband, son, or daughter left,", "\"Grew stupid at the shock. The passing air", "\"Made no impression on her stiff'ning hair.", "\"The blood forsook her face: amidst the flood", "\"Pour'd from her cheeks, quite fix'd her eye-balls stood.", "\"Her tongue, her palate both obdurate grew,", "\"Her curdled veins no longer motion knew;", "\"The use of neck, and arms, and feet was gone,", "\"And ev'n her bowels hard'ned into stone:", "\"A marble statue now the queen appears,", "\"But from the marble steal the silent tears.\"" ], "linecount": "224" }, { "title": "To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady's Brother and Sister", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "On Death's domain intent I fix my eyes,", "Where human nature in vast ruin lies,", "With pensive mind I search the drear abode,", "Where the great conqu'ror has his spoils bestow'd;", "There there the offspring of six thousand years", "In endless numbers to my view appears:", "Whole kingdoms in his gloomy den are thrust,", "And nations mix with their primeval dust:", "Insatiate still he gluts the ample tomb;", "His is the present, his the age to come", "See here a brother, here a sister spread,", "And a sweet daughter mingled with the dead.", "", "But, Madam, let your grief be laid aside,", "And let the fountain of your tears be dry'd,", "In vain they flow to wet the dusty plain,", "Your sighs are wafted to the skies in vain,", "Your pains they witness, but they can no more,", "While Death reigns tyrant o'er this mortal shore.", "", "The glowing stars and silver queen of light", "At last must perish in the gloom of night:", "Resign thy friends to that Almighty hand,", "Which gave them life, and bow to his command;", "Thine Avis give without a murm'ring heart,", "Though half thy soul be fated to depart.", "To shining guards consign thine infant care", "To waft triumphant through the seas of air:", "Her soul enlarg'd to heav'nly pleasure springs,", "She feeds on truth and uncreated things.", "Methinks I hear her in the realms above,", "And leaning forward with a filial love,", "Invite you there to share immortal bliss", "Unknown, untasted in a state like this.", "With tow'ring hopes, and growing grace arise,", "And seek beatitude beyond the skies." ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "An Hymn To Humanity (To S.P.G. Esp)", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "O! for this dark terrestrial ball", "Forsakes his azure-paved hall", " A prince of heav'nly birth!", "Divine Humanity behold,", "What wonders rise, what charms unfold", " At his descent to earth!", "", "II.", "", "The bosoms of the great and good", "With wonder and delight he view'd,", " And fix'd his empire there:", "Him, close compressing to his breast,", "The sire of gods and men address'd,", " \"My son, my heav'nly fair!", "", "III.", "", "\"Descend to earth, there place thy throne;", "\"To succour man's afflicted son", " \"Each human heart inspire:", "\"To act in bounties unconfin'd", "\"Enlarge the close contracted mind,", " \"And fill it with thy fire.\"", "", "IV.", "", "Quick as the word, with swift career", "He wings his course from star to star,", " And leaves the bright abode.", "The Virtue did his charms impart;", "Their G——! then thy raptur'd heart", " Perceiv'd the rushing God:", "", "V.", "", "For when thy pitying eye did see", "The languid muse in low degree,", " Then, then at thy desire", "Descended the celestial nine;", "O'er me methought they deign'd to shine,", "And deign'd to string my lyre.", "", "VI.", "", "Can Afric's muse forgetful prove?", "Or can such friendship fail to move", " A tender human heart?", "Immortal Friendship laurel-crown'd", "The smiling Graces all surround", " With ev'ry heav'nly Art." ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade", "The hand of Death, and your dear daughter", "laid", "In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,", "And racks your bosom with incessant woe,", "Let Recollection take a tender part,", "Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,", "Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,", "And pour the heav'nly nectar of relief:", "Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,", "Divinely bright your daughter's Virtues shone:", "How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,", "Which ne'er its aid to indigence declin'd!", "Expanding free, it sought the means to prove", "Unfailing charity, unbounded love!", "She unreluctant flies to see no more", "Her dear-lov'd parents on earth's dusky shore:", "Impatient heav'n's resplendent goal to gain,", "She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,", "Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,", "And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar;", "She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,", "Where new creations feast her wond'ring eyes.", "To heav'n's high mandate cheerfully resign'd", "She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;", "She, who late wish'd that Leonard might return,", "Has ceas'd to languish, and forgot to mourn;", "To the same high empyreal mansions come,", "She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb:", "And thus I hear her from the realms above:", "\"Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!", "\"Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,", "\"How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss?", "\"Amidst unutter'd pleasures whilst I play", "\"In the fair sunshine of celestial day,", "\"As far as grief affects an happy soul", "\"So far doth grief my better mind controul,", "\"To see on earth my aged parents mourn,", "\"And secret wish for T-----! to return:", "\"Let brighter scenes your ev'ning-hours employ:", "\"Converse with heav'n, and taste the promis'd joy\"" ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "A Funeral Poem on the Death of C.E.", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "Through airy roads he wings his instant flight", "To purer regions of celestial light;", "Enlarg'd he sees unnumber'd systems roll,", "Beneath him sees the universal whole,", "Planets on planets run their destin'd round,", "And circling wonders fill the vast profound.", "Th' ethereal now, and now th' empyreal skies", "With growing splendors strike his wond'ring eyes:", "The angels view him with delight unknown,", "Press his soft hand, and seat him on his throne;", "Then smilling thus: \"To this divine abode,", "\"The seat of saints, of seraphs, and of God,", "\"Thrice welcome thou.\" The raptur'd babe replies,", "\"Thanks to my God, who snatch'd me to the skies,", "\"E'er vice triumphant had possess'd my heart,", "\"E'er yet the tempter had beguil'd my heart,", "\"E'er yet on sin's base actions I was bent,", "\"E'er yet I knew temptation's dire intent;", "\"E'er yet the lash for horrid crimes I felt,", "\"E'er vanity had led my way to guilt,", "\"But, soon arriv'd at my celestial goal,", "\"Full glories rush on my expanding soul.\"", "Joyful he spoke: exulting cherubs round", "Clapt their glad wings, the heav'nly vaults resound.", "Say, parents, why this unavailing moan?", "Why heave your pensive bosoms with the groan?", "To Charles, the happy subject of my song,", "A brighter world, and nobler strains belong.", "Say would you tear him from the realms above", "", "By thoughtless wishes, and prepost'rous love?", "Doth his felicity increase your pain?", "Or could you welcome to this world again", "The heir of bliss? with a superior air", "Methinks he answers with a smile severe,", "\"Thrones and dominions cannot tempt me there.\"", "", "But still you cry, \"Can we the sigh forbear,", "\"And still and still must we not pour the tear?", "\"Our only hope, more dear than vital breath,", "\"Twelve moons revolv'd, becomes the prey of death;", "", "\"Delightful infant, nightly visions give", "\"Thee to our arms, and we with joy receive,", "\"We fain would clasp the Phantom to our breast,", "\"The Phantom flies, and leaves the soul unblest.\"", "", "To yon bright regions let your faith ascend,", "Prepare to join your dearest infant friend", "In pleasures without measure, without end." ], "linecount": "46" }, { "title": "To a Lady and Her Children", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "O'erwhelming sorrow now demands my song:", "From death the overwhelming sorrow sprung.", "What flowing tears? What hearts with grief opprest?", "What sighs on sighs heave the fond parent's breast?", "The brother weeps, the hapless sisters join", "Th' increasing woe, and swell the crystal brine;", "The poor, who once his gen'rous bounty fed,", "Droop, and bewail their benefactor dead.", "In death the friend, the kind companion lies,", "And in one death what various comfort dies!", "Th' unhappy mother sees the sanguine rill", "Forget to flow, and nature's wheels stand still,", "But see from earth his spirit far remov'd,", "And know no grief recalls your best-belov'd:", "He, upon pinions swifter than the wind,", "Has left mortality's sad scenes behind", "For joys to this terrestrial state unknown,", "And glories richer than the monarch's crown.", "Of virtue's steady course the prize behold!", "", "What blissful wonders to his mind unfold!", "But of celestial joys I sing in vain:", "Attempt not, muse, the too advent'rous strain.", "", "No more in briny show'rs, ye friends around,", "Or bathe his clay, or waste them on the ground:", "Still do you weep, still wish for his return?", "How cruel thus to wish, and thus to mourn?", "No more for him the streams of sorrow pour,", "But haste to join him on the heav'nly shore,", "On harps of gold to tune immortal lays,", "And to your God immortal anthems raise." ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "On The Death Of J. C. An Infant", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "NO more the flow'ry scenes of pleasure rife,", "Nor charming prospects greet the mental eyes,", "No more with joy we view that lovely face", "Smiling, disportive, flush'd with ev'ry grace.", "The tear of sorrow flows from ev'ry eye,", "Groans answer groans, and sighs to sighs reply;", "What sudden pangs shot thro' each aching heart,", "When, Death, thy messenger dispatch'd his dart?", "Thy dread attendants, all-destroying Pow'r,", "Hurried the infant to his mortal hour.", "Could'st thou unpitying close those radiant eyes?", "Or fail'd his artless beauties to surprise?", "Could not his innocence thy stroke controul,", "Thy purpose shake, and soften all thy soul?", "The blooming babe, with shades of Death o'er-", "spread,", "No more shall smile, no more shall raise its head,", "But, like a branch that from the tree is torn,", "Falls prostrate, wither'd, languid, and forlorn.", "\"Where flies my James?\" 'tis thus I seem to hear", "The parent ask, \"Some angel tell me where", "\"He wings his passage thro' the yielding air?\"", "Methinks a cherub bending from the skies", "Observes the question, and serene replies,", "\"In heav'ns high palaces your babe appears:", "\"Prepare to meet him, and dismiss your tears.\"", "Shall not th' intelligence your grief restrain,", "And turn the mournful to the cheerful strain?", "Cease your complaints, suspend each rising sigh,", "Cease to accuse the Ruler of the sky.", "Parents, no more indulge the falling tear:", "Let Faith to heav'n's refulgent domes repair,", "There see your infant, like a seraph glow:", "What charms celestial in his numbers flow", "Melodious, while the foul-enchanting strain", "Dwells on his tongue, and fills th' ethereal plain?", "Enough--for ever cease your murm'ring breath;", "Not as a foe, but friend converse with Death,", "Since to the port of happiness unknown", "He brought that treasure which you call your own.", "The gift of heav'n intrusted to your hand", "Cheerful resign at the divine command:", "Not at your bar must sov'reign Wisdom stand." ], "linecount": "43" }, { "title": " Thoughts On The Works Of Providence", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "A R I S E, my soul, on wings enraptur'd, rise", "To praise the monarch of the earth and skies,", "Whose goodness and benificence appear", "As round its centre moves the rolling year,", "Or when the morning glows with rosy charms,", "Or the sun slumbers in the ocean's arms:", "Of light divine be a rich portion lent", "To guide my soul, and favour my intend.", "Celestial muse, my arduous flight sustain", "And raise my mind to a seraphic strain!", "Ador'd for ever be the God unseen,", "Which round the sun revolves this vast machine,", "Though to his eye its mass a point appears:", "Ador'd the God that whirls surrounding spheres,", "Which first ordain'd that mighty Sol should reign", "The peerless monarch of th' ethereal train:", "Of miles twice forty millions is his height,", "And yet his radiance dazzles mortal sight", "So far beneath--from him th' extended earth", "Vigour derives, and ev'ry flow'ry birth:", "Vast through her orb she moves with easy grace", "Around her Phoebus in unbounded space;", "True to her course th' impetuous storm derides,", "Triumphant o'er the winds, and surging tides.", "Almighty, in these wond'rous works of thine,", "What Pow'r, what Wisdom, and what Goodness shine!", "And are thy wonders, Lord, by men explor'd,", "And yet creating glory unador'd!", "Creation smiles in various beauty gay,", "While day to night, and night succeeds to day:", "That Wisdom, which attends Jehovah's ways,", "Shines most conspicuous in the solar rays:", "Without them, destitute of heat and light,", "This world would be the reign of endless night:", "In their excess how would our race complain,", "Abhorring life! how hate its length'ned chain!", "From air adust what num'rous ills would rise?", "What dire contagion taint the burning skies?", "What pestilential vapours, fraught with death,", "Would rise, and overspread the lands beneath?", "Hail, smiling morn, that from the orient main", "Ascending dost adorn the heav'nly plain!", "So rich, so various are thy beauteous dies,", "That spread through all the circuit of the skies,", "That, full of thee, my soul in rapture soars,", "And thy great God, the cause of all adores.", "O'er beings infinite his love extends,", "His Wisdom rules them, and his Pow'r defends.", "When tasks diurnal tire the human frame,", "The spirits faint, and dim the vital flame,", "Then too that ever active bounty shines,", "Which not infinity of space confines.", "The sable veil, that Night in silence draws,", "Conceals effects, but shows th' Almighty Cause,", "Night seals in sleep the wide creation fair,", "And all is peaceful but the brow of care.", "Again, gay Phoebus, as the day before,", "Wakes ev'ry eye, but what shall wake no more;", "Again the face of nature is renew'd,", "Which still appears harmonious, fair, and good.", "May grateful strains salute the smiling morn,", "Before its beams the eastern hills adorn!", "Shall day to day, and night to night conspire", "To show the goodness of the Almighty Sire?", "This mental voice shall man regardless hear,", "And never, never raise the filial pray'r?", "To-day, O hearken, nor your folly mourn", "For time mispent, that never will return.", "But see the sons of vegetation rise,", "And spread their leafy banners to the skies.", "All-wise Almighty Providence we trace", "In trees, and plants, and all the flow'ry race;", "As clear as in the nobler frame of man,", "All lovely copies of the Maker's plan.", "The pow'r the same that forms a ray of light,", "That call d creation from eternal night.", "\"Let there be light,\" he said: from his profound", "Old Chaos heard, and trembled at the sound:", "Swift as the word, inspir'd by pow'r divine,", "Behold the light around its Maker shine,", "The first fair product of th' omnific God,", "And now through all his works diffus'd abroad.", "As reason's pow'rs by day our God disclose,", "So we may trace him in the night's repose:", "Say what is sleep? and dreams how passing strange!", "When action ceases, and ideas range", "Licentious and unbounded o'er the plains,", "Where Fancy's queen in giddy triumph reigns.", "Hear in soft strains the dreaming lover sigh", "To a kind fair, or rave in jealousy;", "On pleasure now, and now on vengeance bent,", "The lab'ring passions struggle for a vent.", "What pow'r, O man! thy reason then restores,", "So long suspended in nocturnal hours?", "What secret hand returns the mental train,", "And gives improv'd thine active pow'rs again?", "From thee, O man, what gratitude should rise!", "And, when from balmy sleep thou op'st thine eyes,", "Let thy first thoughts be praises to the skies.", "How merciful our God who thus imparts", "O'erflowing tides of joy to human hearts,", "When wants and woes might be our righteous lot,", "Our God forgetting, by our God forgot!", "Among the mental pow'rs a question rose,", "\"What most the image of th' Eternal shows?\"", "When thus to Reason (so let Fancy rove)", "Her great companion spoke immortal Love.", "\"Say, mighty pow'r, how long shall strife prevail,", "\"And with its murmurs load the whisp'ring gale?", "\"Refer the cause to Recollection's shrine,", "\"Who loud proclaims my origin divine,", "\"The cause whence heav'n and earth began to be,", "\"And is not man immortaliz'd by me?", "\"Reason let this most causeless strife subside.\"", "Thus Love pronounc'd, and Reason thus reply'd.", "\"Thy birth, coelestial queen! 'tis mine to own,", "\"In thee resplendent is the Godhead shown;", "\"Thy words persuade, my soul enraptur'd feels", "\"Resistless beauty which thy smile reveals.\"", "Ardent she spoke, and, kindling at her charms,", "She clasp'd the blooming goddess in her arms.", "Infinite Love where'er we turn our eyes", "Appears: this ev'ry creature's wants supplies;", "This most is heard in Nature's constant voice,", "This makes the morn, and this the eve rejoice;", "This bids the fost'ring rains and dews descend", "To nourish all, to serve one gen'ral end,", "The good of man: yet man ungrateful pays", "But little homage, and but little praise.", "To him, whose works arry'd with mercy shine,", "What songs should rise, how constant, how divine!" ], "linecount": "131" }, { "title": "To A Lady On The Death Of The Three Relations", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "WE trace the pow'r of Death from tomb to tomb,", "And his are all the ages yet to come.", "'Tis his to call the planets from on high,", "To blacken Phoebus, and dissolve the sky;", "His too, when all in his dark realms are hurl'd,", "From its firm base to shake the solid world;", "His fatal sceptre rules the spacious whole,", "And trembling nature rocks from pole to pole.", "Awful he moves, and wide his wings are spread:", "Behold thy brother number'd with the dead!", "From bondage freed, the exulting spirit flies", "Beyond Olympus, and these starry skies.", "Lost in our woe for thee, blest shade, we mourn", "In vain; to earth thou never must return.", "Thy sisters too, fair mourner, feel the dart", "Of Death, and with fresh torture rend thine heart.", "Weep not for them, and leave the world behind.", "As a young plant by hurricanes up torn,", "So near its parent lies the newly born--", "But 'midst the bright ehtereal train behold", "It shines superior on a throne of gold:", "Then, mourner, cease; let hope thy tears restrain,", "Smile on the tomb, and sooth the raging pain.", "On yon blest regions fix thy longing view,", "Mindless of sublunary scenes below;", "Ascend the sacred mount, in thought arise,", "And seek substantial and immortal joys;", "Where hope receives, where faith to vision springs,", "And raptur'd seraphs tune th' immortal strings", "To strains extatic. Thou the chorus join,", "And to thy father tune the praise divine." ], "linecount": "31" }, { "title": "To A Lady On The Death Of Her Husband", "author": "Phillis Wheatley", "lines": [ "GRIM monarch! see, depriv'd of vital breath,", "A young physician in the dust of death:", "Dost thou go on incessant to destroy,", "Our griefs to double, and lay waste our joy?", "Enough thou never yet wast known to say,", "Though millions die, the vassals of thy sway:", "Nor youth, nor science, not the ties of love,", "Nor ought on earth thy flinty heart can move.", "The friend, the spouse from his dire dart to save,", "In vain we ask the sovereign of the grave.", "Fair mourner, there see thy lov'd Leonard laid,", "And o'er him spread the deep impervious shade.", "Clos'd are his eyes, and heavy fetters keep", "His senses bound in never-waking sleep,", "Till time shall cease, till many a starry world", "Shall fall from heav'n, in dire confusion hurl'd", "Till nature in her final wreck shall lie,", "And her last groan shall rend the azure sky:", "Not, not till then his active soul shall claim", "His body, a divine immortal frame.", "But see the softly-stealing tears apace", "Pursue each other down the mourner's face;", "But cease thy tears, bid ev'ry sigh depart,", "And cast the load of anguish from thine heart:", "From the cold shell of his great soul arise,", "And look beyond, thou native of the skies;", "There fix thy view, where fleeter than the wind", "Thy Leonard mounts, and leaves the earth behind.", "Thyself prepare to pass the vale of night", "To join for ever on the hills of light:", "To thine embrace this joyful spirit moves", "To thee, the partner of his earthly loves;", "He welcomes thee to pleasures more refin'd,", "And better suited to th' immortal mind." ], "linecount": "34" } ]