Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

POET'S CORNER.

MIDNIGHT THOUGHTS.

From a BRITISH MAGAZINE.

LOCK'D are the golden gates of day,
'Tis thine, O Night! the keys to keep;
Morpheus, in velvet's soft array,
Has lull'd the busy world to sleep.
Now fancy waves her magic rod,
And roving, spreads her airy wings;
Now flatter'd kings assume the god,
And dreaming vassals ape their kings.
The lover, free from hopes and fears,
In ecstasy imparts the kiss;
The nymph, undone, forgets her tears,
Exulting in imagin'd bliss.
Deception all!-'tis thus thro' life,
Our passions grasp at each extreme:
Pleasure and pain's eternal strife,
Convinces--life is all a dream.
Yet, hail, kind SLEEP! in poppies drest,
Health's sweetest sister, queen of peace!
In thee, distinction sinks to rest,
In thee, our daily troubles cease.
Thy willing captives bless thy chain,
Yet slaves at thy command are free;
Poets and princes own thy reign,
And stand on equal terms in thee.
But, like the sons of gay delight,
When most thy visits sorrow needs,
Too oft thou tak'st a distant flight,
And death's eternal sleep succeeds.
Eternal!--no--his transient reign,
Like thine, shall revolution see;
The solemn trump shall burst his chain,
And set whole realms of captives free.
And thee, O NIGHT! the muse shall hail.
Whose awful gloom the soul invades;
Suns in their burning spheres may fail,
But thou shalt triumph in thy shades.
Ere order sprang in depths profound,
Thy universal sway was known;
Chaos, thy ruder brother, own'd
The ancient sceptre thine alone.
O see! obsequious to thy nod,
Dividing clouds obedient fly;
See the drawn curtains of a God
Unfold the glories of the sky!
View the amazing canopy,
The wide, th' wonderful expanse!
Let each bold infidel agree,
That God is there, unknown to CHANCE.
There the enchanting volume read,
Where worlds illumin'd fill the page,
Where radiant orbs their Maker plead,
And in his great behest engage.
There, learn'd dunces of the schools,
Behold, the language stars can teach;
Then, bending, own Jehovah's rules
Beyond the pow'r of human reach.