Palladium Of Virginia And The Pacific Monitor

ODE ON WINTER.

Stern winter comes to bid us mourn,
And lays the face of nature bare:
His voice on wings of wind is borne,
He brings ten thousand forms of care.
A growing tempest veils the sky;
The moon is hurried through the clouds;
Now light, now dark, she passes by:.
The stars the angry storm enshrouds.
Hark! the wind roars among the trees;
The savage hides within his cave;
Wild uproar rages on the seas;
The sailor trembles on the waves.
Safe to my chamber I retire;
A thousand gloomy thoughts prevail:
I draw the chair and stir the fire,
And listen to the passing gale.
A spirit on its wings I hear,
That sternly moans, or seems to say,
Remember, man, thy time is near,
The time that calls thee hence away.
From the gay fields of life and pride.
Thy wandering soul is doomed to fly.
To worlds far distant, wild and wide;
Think. Oh! how awful 'tis to die;
Thus, every gale, that rudely blows,
Brings a memento to the mind,
And terror more gigantic grows,
And aims a dart with every wind.
Great Author of this awful scene!
Thy works with wonder I adore;
Teach me to think on what has been,
And what it is to be no more