Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ENTHUSIAST, SONGS OF ARLA: 3, by ANNE BATTEN CRISTALL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ENTHUSIAST, SONGS OF ARLA: 3, by                    
First Line: Impassioned strains my trembling lips rehearse
Last Line: Her heart, resigned, to simple truth accords.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Passion


Impassioned strains my trembling lips rehearse,
Echoing my soul the numbers pierce the skies,
I seem (delusions thus my mind impair)
To catch the potent fires of EDRAN'S eyes:
On loftiest pinions then, more noble verse
Bursts into sound, and floats upon the air,
Till memory bursts on my deluded heart,
Mingling discordant strains of deep despair.
Distracting thoughts upon my spirit pour,
No longer in delusive dreams I rest,
Such passions mingle with each bitter shower!


A father's image meets my troubled breast;
Ah! wandering heart! how bitterly distressed!
Consuming flames will soon thy strength o'erpower,
And thou abandoned die, with guilt oppressed.


HER father, soon returning, heard her fate,
Whilst he anticipates his child's embrace,
And empty hopes his joyful heart elate;
O'erwhelmed at once he's blasted with disgrace:
No deeper pang his bosom can endure;
The laurels fade on his victorious brow;
From his uplifted arms, in fraud secure,
The villain fled, and shunned thempending blow.


The parent viewed his lost desponding child,
But did not chase the sufferer from his breast,
For Christian charity, benign and mild,
Was deeply on his noble heart impressed:
Patient enquiries taught him the base art
With which the vile seducer spread his snare,
The weakness of her lost deluded heart,
And present struggles of her wild despair;
To snatch her from th' abyss with haste he ran,
And warmly thus the tender sire began:



FATHER.
"O! tremble not to meet thy parent's eyes,
"But to mine open arms for refuge fly;
"From dark despondency, O ARLA! rise;
"Child of my bosom, calm the struggling sigh."


ARLA.
"Fast fall, ye tears, till ye have drowned my sight;
"Quicken, ye pulses, your encreasing fire;
"O! let me lose myself in endless night,
"I burn with shame, I sicken at the light:
"When will my passions in the grave expire?
"Thro' wild excess my hopes are all o'erthrown,
"My genius blighted, and each virtue flown."


FATHER.
"Alas! what fiend is harassing thy breast,
"Urging thy passions like impetuous wind?
"Convulsively they rage, and unsuppressed
"Will wreck the nobler functions of thy mind:
"Is pure religion then no longer known?
"How is thine heart thus from thy Maker flown?"


ARLA.
"Short-breathing, deep with recent wounds I smart,
"And bursting in my bosom heaves mine heart;
"In vain my soul the'erwhelming storm would calm,
"Nor can the dreams of wild devotion charm.
"Delusive Faith! seducer of my youth!
"Thy wilder transports my young fancy caught,
"Delirious visions led me far from truth,
"Provoked my passions, and my misery wrought;
"From ignorance I wak'ad to bitter thought,
"Saw clear the folly that had led astray,
"Guilt's burning blushes met the dawning day."


FATHER.
"Talk not of day; O! wrapt in darkest night!
"Still deepening the dire shades which truth should break;
"Enthusiastic mists have dimmed thy sight,
"From which alone to guilt thou didst awake;
"Unknowing truth, religion you mistake:
"'Tis not the raging of a zealot's fires,
"Nor visions which from pampered fancies spring,
"Nor strains which a distempered zeal inspires,
"Though harmony awaked its loftiest string.
"Religion is the tribute of a heart
"Which strongly feels GOD'S goodness and his power,
"And humbly strives to strengthen its desert,
"And, firm in hope, his attributes to adore.
"'Twas thus I taught thee, when I fired thy soul
"With GOD'S omnipotence and wondrous love,
"But madly thou hast started from control,
"And o'erstrained raptures deadly poisons prove:
"Prayers are but sounds that mount to heaven in vain,
"While uncurbed passions rage with boundless sway;
"Strong principles must potent minds restrain,
"Or dire extremes will on the reason prey."


ARLA.
"With ineffectual sounds wound not mine ear,
"Light as the winds, they cannot reach the soul:
"She [Which], like a hollow blast, thy voice can hear,
"And folding on her it self rebukes control.
"To death alone my spirit looks for aid,
"For all around me teems with dire dismay;
"Each earthly bliss, alas! is torn away,
"And fierce distractions my weak soul pervade.
"Pierced by my fate, stung with delusion's power,
"I pant for death, and urge the mortal hour."


FATHER.
"Thou hast forgot thy soul can never die,
"That to the virtuous only death is rest;
"Covered with guilt, o'erwhelmed with infamy,
"While earthly passions canker at thy breast,
"Wouldst thou thus rush into eternity?"


The strong rebellious spirit heard him speak,
As fixed on death her desperate passions wrought;
A sudden paleness smote her crimson cheek,
And trembling horror chilled awak'ning thought.
She rolled her fiery eyes, but found no rest,
Her panting heart congealed with sudden fears;
Then, rushing on her father's suffering breast,
Burst in an agonizing shower of tears.


Nor did he strive her anguish to control,
But let it rage till all its force was spent,
Then touched the filial feelings of her soul,
Till to his words a willing ear she lent;
And then the heavenly precepts he diffused
Which breathe forgiveness to the guilty heart,
The simple tenets she had once abused
Now snatch her from despondency and smart:
But, ere the tumult of her soul had rest,
The sun of truth her mental darkness cleared;
Burst the thick clouds which had her mind oppressed,
While hope divine her woe-fraught bosom cheared.


To depths of solitude she would have flown
To purify the passions of her breast,
To cherish truth sequestered and alone,
With meditation's pensive pleasures blest:
But her wise parent checked her erring mind,
Who piety with strong reflection joined.
He cried, "What new delusions wouldst thou try?
"To what romantic wilds would ARLA fly?
"A mind prone to extremes these wishes fires,
"'Tis passion, and not virtue, which inspires.
"Large powers, with deep experience, scarce are food
"For the reflective cave of solitude.
"O'er what would thy sad meditations roll?
"Still idle dreams would rise and cloud thy soul;
"Which practical devotion must efface,
"And the strong exercise of virtue chase:
"Thy mind already on itself has preyed,
"Blinded through inexperience, and betrayed;
"From Nature's grander traits conceptions caught,
"Have waked thy genius and enriched thy thought;
"But weak at root, though lofty and o'ergrown,
"Thy mind is by each casual blast o'erthrown;
"Let strengthened virtue, then, each thought inspire,
"And cherished reason check wild fancy's fire."


He spake; she felt the wisdom of his words,
Her heart, resigned, to simple truth accords.





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