ADDITIONAL POEMS

TO TIRZAH

Whate’er is Born of Mortal Birth

Must be consumed with the Earth

to rise from Generation free:

Then what have I to do with thee?

The Sexes sprung from Shame & Pride,

Blow’d in the mom; in evening died;

But Mercy chang’d Death into Sleep;

The Sexes rose to work & weep.

Thou, Mother of my Mortal part,

With cruelty didst mould my Heart,

And with false self-decieving tears

Didst bind my Nostrils, Eyes, & Ears:

Didst close my Tongue in senseless clay,

And me to Mortal Life betray.

The Death of Jesus set me free:

Then what have I to do with thee?

THE SCHOOLBOY

I love to rise in a summer morn

When the birds sing on every tree;

The distant huntsman winds his horn,

And the sky-lark sings with me.

O! what sweet company.

But to go to school in a summer morn,

O! it drives all joy away;

Under a cruel eye outworn,

The little ones spend the day

In sighing and dismay.

Ah! then at times I drooping sit,

And spend many an anxious hour,

Nor in my book can I take delight,

Nor sit in learning’s bower,

Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy

Sit in a cage and sing?

How can a child, when fears annoy,

But droop his tender wing,

And forget his youthful spring?

O! father & mother, if buds are nip’d

And blossoms blown away,

And if the tender plants are strip’d

Of their joy in the springing day,

By sorrow and care’s dismay,

How shall the summer arise in joy,

Or the summer fruits appear?

Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,

Or bless the mellowing year,

When the blasts of winter appear?

THE VOICE OF THE ANCIENT BARD

Youth of delight, come hither,

And see the opening morn,

Image of truth new born.

Doubt is fled, & clouds of reason,

Dark disputes & artful teazing.

Folly is an endless maze,

Tangled roots perplex her ways.

How many have fallen there!

They stumble all night over bones of the dead,

And feel they know not what but care,

And wish to lead others, when they should be led.

A DIVINE IMAGE

Cruelty has a Human Heart,

And Jealousy a Human Face;

Terror the Human Form Divine,

And Secrecy the Human Dress.

The Human Dress is forged Iron,

The Human Form a fiery Forge,

The Human Face a Furnace seal’d.

The Human Heart its hungry Gorge.