O'er her young hopes the sable pall is spread; Her wedded heart holds converse with the dead; To ties, no longer earthly, fondly true, Each thought that breathes of love, must breathe of heaven too. Thus, Sarah, love thy nobler mind prepares, THE FIRST FIRE. OCTOBER 1st, 1815. HA, old acquaintance! many a month has past And breath sulphureous, generating spleen,- As Frenchmen say; Frenchmen, who never knew The sober comforts of a good coal fire. -Let me imbibe thy warmth, and spread myself Before thy shrine adoring :-magnet thou Of strong attraction, daily gathering in Friends, brethren, kinsmen, variously dispersed, All the dear charities of social life, To thy close circle. Here a man might stand, And say, This is my world! Who would not bleed Rather than see thy violated hearth Prest by a hostile foot? The winds sing shrill ; Heap on the fuel! Not the costly board, Nor sparkling glass, nor wit, nor music, cheer Homeward returning, to behold the blaze The cheerful scene within! There sits the sire, Age gladly yields up all precedence else In gay and bustling scenes,-supports his limbs. Cherished by thee, he feels the grateful warmth Creep through his feeble frame and thaw the ice Of fourscore years, and thoughts of youth arise. -Nor less the young ones press within, to see Thy face delighted, and with husk of nuts, Or crackling holly, or the gummy pine, Feed thy immortal hunger: cheaply pleased They gaze delighted, while the leaping flames Dart like an adder's tongue upon their prey; Or touch with lighted reed thy wreaths of smoke; Or listen, while the matron sage remarks Thy bright blue scorching flame and aspect clear, Denoting frosty skies. Thus pass the hours, While Winter spends without his idle rage. -Companion of the solitary man, From gayer scenes withheld! With thee he sits, Converses, moralizes; musing asks How many æras of uncounted time Have rolled away since thy black unctuous food Was green with vegetative life, and what This planet then: or marks, in sprightlier mood, Thy flickering smiles play round the' illumined room, And fancies gay discourse, life, motion, mirth, And half forgets he is a lonely creature. ---Nor less the bashful poet loves to sit On thy bright face; and still at intervals, -O wretched he, with bolts and massy bars Thy purifying influence! Sad he sits Day after day, till in his youthful limbs |