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If you imagine changes slowly wrought,
And in their process unperceivable;

Not wished for; sometimes noticed with a sigh (Whate'er of good or lovely they might bring,) Sighs of regret, for the familiar good

And loveliness endeared which they removed.

"Seven years of occupation undisturbed
Established seemingly a right to hold
That happiness; and use and habit gave
To what an alien spirit had acquired
A patrimonial sanctity. And thus,

With thoughts and wishes bounded to this world,
I lived and breathed; most grateful, if to enjoy
Without repining or desire for more,

For different lot, or change to higher sphere,
(Only except some impulses of pride
With no determined object, though upheld
By theories with suitable support,)-
Most grateful, if in such wise to enjoy
Be proof of gratitude for what we have;
Else, I allow, most thankless.

From some dark seat of fatal

But, at once, power was urged

A claim that shattered all. Our blooming girl, Caught in the gripe of death, with such brief time To struggle in as scarcely would allow

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Her cheek to change its color, was conveyed From us to inaccessible worlds, to regions Where height, or depth, admits not the approach

Of living man, though longing to pursue.

-

- With even as brief a warning,—and how soon With what short interval of time between,

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I tremble yet to think of, our last prop,
Our happy life's only remaining stay,

The brother followed; and was seen no more

"Calm as a frozen lake when ruthless winds Blow fiercely, agitating earth and sky, The Mother now remained; as if in her, Who, to the lowest region of the soul, Had been erewhile unsettled and disturbed. This second visitation had no power To shake; but only to bind up and seal; And to establish thankfulness of heart In Heaven's determinations, ever just. The eminence whereon her spirit stood, Mine was unable to attain.

Immense

The space that severed us! But, as the sight
Communicates with heaven's ethereal orbs
Incalculably distant; so I felt

That consolation may descend from far,
(And that is intercourse, and union, too,)
While, overcome with speechless gratitude,
And with a holier love inspired, I looked
On her,
at once superior to my woes

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And partner of my loss. O heavy change!
Dimness o'er this clear luminary crept

Insensibly;

the immortal and divine

Yielded to mortal reflux; her pure glory,

As from the pinnacle of worldly state

Wretched ambition drops astounded, fell
Into a gulf obscure of silent grief,

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And keen heart-anguish, of itself ashamed,
Yet obstinately cherishing itself:

And, so consumed, she melted from my arms;
And left me, on this earth, disconsolate!

"What followed cannot be reviewed in thought;
Much less, retraced in words. If she, of life
Blameless, so intimate with love and joy
And all the tender motions of the soul,
Had been supplanted, could I hope to stand,-
Infirm, dependent, and now destitute?

I called on dreams and visions, to disclose
That which is veiled from waking thought; conjured
Eternity, as men constrain a ghost

To appear and answer; to the grave I spake
Imploringly; looked up, and asked the heavens
If Angels traversed their cerulean floors,
If fixed or wandering star could tidings yield
Of the departed spirit, what abode

It occupies, what consciousness retains

Of former loves and interests. Then my soul
Turned inward, — to examine of what stuff
Time's fetters are composed; and life was put
To inquisition, long and profitless!

By pain of heart now checked, and now impelled,

The intellectual power, through words and things, Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way!

And from those transports, and these toils abstruse,
Some trace am I enabled to retain

Of time, else lost; -existing unto me
Only by records in myself not found.

"From that abstraction I was roused, and how? Even as a thoughtful shepherd by a flash Of lightning startled in a gloomy cave

Of these wild hills. For, lo! the dread Bastile,
With all the chambers in its horrid towers,
Fell to the ground: - by violence overthrown
Of indignation; and with shouts that drowned
The crash it made in falling! From the wreck
A golden palace rose, or seemed to rise,
The appointed seat of equitable law
And mild paternal sway. The potent shock
I felt the transformation I perceived,
As marvellously seized as in that moment
When, from the blind mist issuing, I beheld
Glory, beyond all glory ever seen,
Confusion infinite of heaven and earth,

Dazzling the soul. Meanwhile, prophetic harps
In every grove were ringing, 'War shall cease;
Did ye not hear that conquest is abjured?
Bring garlands, bring forth choicest flowers, to deck
The tree of Liberty.' — My heart rebounded;

My melancholy voice the chorus joined:

'Be joyful, all ye nations; in all lands,

Ye that are capable of joy be glad!
Henceforth, whate'er is wanting to yourselves

In others ye shall promptly find

; and all,

Enriched by mutual and reflected wealth,

Shall with one heart honor their common kind.'

"Thus was I reconverted to the world; Society became my glittering bride,

And airy hopes my children. From the depths Of natural passion seemingly escaped,

My soul diffused herself in wide embrace

Of institutions, and the forms of things ;
As they exist, in mutable array,

Upon life's surface. What though in my veins
There flowed no Gallic blood, nor had I breathes
The air of France, not less than Gallic zeal
Kindled and burnt among the sapless twigs
Of my exhausted heart. If busy men
In sober conclave met, to weave a web
Of amity, whose living threads should stretch
Beyond the seas, and to the farthest pole,
There did I sit, assisting. If, with noise
And acclamation, crowds in open air
Expressed the tumult of their
There mingled, heard or not.

minds, my voice
The powers of song
I left not uninvoked; and, in still groves,
Where mild enthusiasts tuned a pensive lay
Of thanks and expectation, in accord
With their belief, I sang Saturnian rule
Returned, a progeny of golden years
Permitted to descend, and bless mankind.

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