Frederic.

(Time Night. Scene the woods.)     Where shall I turn me? whither shall I bend     My weary way? thus worn with toil and faint     How thro' the thorny mazes of this wood     Attain my distant dwelling? that deep cry     That rings along the forest seems to sound     My parting knell: it is the midnight howl     Of hungry monsters prowling for their prey!     Again! oh save me--save me gracious Heaven!     I am not fit to die!                      Thou coward wretch     Why heaves thy trembling heart? why shake thy limbs     Beneath their palsied burden? is there ought     So lovely in existence? would'st thou drain     Even to its dregs the bitter draught of life?     Dash down the loathly bowl! poor outcast slave     Stamp'd with the brand of Vice and Infamy     Why should the villain Frederic shrink from Death?     Death! where the magic in that empty name     That chills my inmost heart? why at the thought     Starts the cold dew of fear on every limb?     There are no terrors to surround the Grave,     When the calm Mind collected in itself     Surveys that narrow house: the ghastly train     That haunt the midnight of delirious Guilt     Then vanish; in that home of endless rest     All sorrows cease.--Would I might slumber there!     Why then this panting of the fearful heart?     This miser love of Life that dreads to lose     Its cherish'd torment? shall the diseased man     Yield up his members to the surgeon's knife,     Doubtful of succour, but to ease his frame     Of fleshly anguish, and the coward wretch,     Whose ulcered soul can know no human help     Shrink from the best Physician's certain aid?     Oh it were better far to lay me down     Here on this cold damp earth, till some wild beast     Seize on his willing victim!                             If to die     Were all, it were most sweet to rest my head     On the cold clod, and sleep the sleep of Death.     But if the Archangel's trump at the last hour     Startle the ear of Death and wake the soul     To frenzy!--dreams of infancy! fit tales     For garrulous beldames to affrighten babes!     I have been guilty, yet my mind can bear     The retrospect of guilt, yet in the hour     Of deep contrition to THE ETERNAL look     For mercy! for the child of Poverty,     And "disinherited of happiness,"     What if I warr'd upon the world? the world     Had wrong'd me first: I had endur'd the ills     Of hard injustice; all this goodly earth     Was but to me one wild waste wilderness;     I had no share in Nature's patrimony,     Blasted were all my morning hopes of Youth,     Dark DISAPPOINTMENT follow'd on my ways,     CARE was my bosom inmate, and keen WANT     Gnaw'd at my heart. ETERNAL ONE thou know'st     How that poor heart even in the bitter hour     Of lewdest revelry has inly yearn'd     For peace!              My FATHER! I will call on thee,     Pour to thy mercy seat my earnest prayer,     And wait thy peace in bowedness of soul.     Oh thoughts of comfort! how the afflicted heart,     Tired with the tempest of its passions, rests     On you with holy hope! the hollow howl     Of yonder harmless tenant of the woods     Bursts not with terror on the sober'd sense.     If I have sinn'd against mankind, on them     Be that past sin; they made me what I was.     In these extremest climes can Want no more     Urge to the deeds of darkness, and at length     Here shall I rest. What tho' my hut be poor--     The rains descend not thro' its humble roof:     Would I were there again! the night is cold;     And what if in my wanderings I should rouse     The savage from his thicket!                                  Hark! the gun!     And lo--the fire of safety! I shall reach     My little hut again! again by toil     Force from the stubborn earth my sustenance,     And quick-ear'd guilt will never start alarm'd     Amid the well-earn'd meal. This felon's garb--     Will it not shield me from the winds of Heaven?     And what could purple more? Oh strengthen me     Eternal One in this serener state!     Cleanse thou mine heart, so PENITENCE and FAITH     Shall heal my soul and my last days be peace.