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THELMON AND CARMEL; AN IRREGULAR POEM, by                    
First Line: In thelmon's breast contending passions rise
Last Line: But most his future life his gratitude displayed.


PART THE FIRST.



IN THELMON'S breast contending passions rise,
While, with resentment stung, he proudly flies;
The harmonist divine, to madness fired,
Rashly to CARMEL'S youthful charms aspired;
But she, with Virtue's awful power possessed,
Taught him to blush, and drove him from her breast.
First anger in his heated bosom rose,
With pride he burns, for speedy vengeance glows:
His instrument, of heaven-inspired sound,
Touched by dire discord wounds the air around;
Then vengeance dies, and fierce disdain succeeds;
He flies, while CARMEL'S heart with sorrow bleeds;
His agonies are changed to bitter scorn,
Nor can the lofty spirit stoop to mourn;
Disowning every tie that linked the heart,
He lost in vice the racking sense of smart;
He gave a scope to all his mad desires.
(Perverted genius deepest crimes inspires)
The wanton chords he struck with loose delight,
And wit's strong flashes shed luxuriant light;
Till, satiate with the empty joys of sense,
And oft disgusted with their impotence,
Wearied of follies reaped without controul,
With self-reproach he smarted to the soul;
With shame and scorn from noisy pleasures flew,
And to the calms of solitude withdrew;
Nature exploring, and with music fired,
Lost in research he wandered as inspired.




PART THE SECOND.



REMOVed from man, and summer's tuneful groves,
Alone harmonious THELMON strays to muse;
O'er rugged hills, through long rough paths he roves,
To where, impelled by winds, the ocean roars,
Heaves its vast surges on the echoing shores,
Foams 'mid the rocks, and dashes the thick ooze.


Now on the sounding beech, sublime in thought,
He viewed the wonders of the horrid deep,
Which from the heavens the ponderous torrents caught,
While briny mountains brave the darkened sky,
Where lowering clouds replete with waters fly,
And stormy winds the heavens and ocean sweep.


Nor jarring elements untuned his soul,
Each natural cause still tracing to its source,
While driven on winds the waves tremendous roll;
Curious to meditate on Nature's law,
The vast Creator in his works he saw,
And contemplation guides his wandering course.


Humbled by youthful crimes and curbed desires,
Abstracted through life's mazy paths he trod,
The love of science damped his former fires;
And with a heart formed to converse with man,
A genius raised on Nature's noblest plan,
He inward drew his powers, and sought his GOD.


Pond'ring on man's vain passions as he stood,
He heard the transports of the empty wind,
The vain contentions of the mighty flood,
Till the tired storm scowled cross the heaving main;
The spray no more flies o'er the distant plain,
And the faint sun through filmy vapours shined.


Calm 'midst advancing shades dissolved the day,
The silenced winds scarce shook the showery leaves,
And through the heavens the watery vapours stray;
Then o'er the sea (tumultuous now no more)
Which beat the rocks, and gently dashed the shore,
A solemn melody his spirit breathes.


THELMON, whom passions now no more controul,
To science and to music gave his soul;
Fair CARMEL'S charms alone his love had fired,
Unmarked the mind which every grace inspired,
With violence it flamed, but soon expired.
His heedless wanderings fate or chance decide,
But now again near CARMEL'S dwelling guide;
Of which unmindful, still he roved the plains,
And to the setting sun poured forth sublime his strains.




PART THE THIRD.


The grove is hushed, the saffron-tinged clouds
Shoot down their softening colours to the west;
Advancing night the sable mountains shrouds,
And with her dewy feet are meads and flowrets pressed.


Slowly the solemn moon its full orb rears,
And through the skies its lucid influence throws,
Each glittering star 'mid fleecy clouds appears,
And through themmeasurable path of heaven
The high galaxy glows.


The moon-beams glide serene across the lake,
Whose glassy bosom gloomy branches shade;
The dying gale the murmuring sedges shake,
While sounds melodious, pouring through the grove,
The solemn stillness of the night invade.


Cool as the eve, mild as the lucid spheres,
Fair CARMEL wanders 'mid the nightly dew;
But wondering stood, as through her well-tuned ears
She listening soft harmonious numbers drew.


On the chaste moon she fixed her crystal eyes,
Her ear attentive caught the trembling sounds;
Responsive her lone bosom uttered sighs,
While the musician pours his lofty strains,
They fill the woods, they echo o'er the plains,
The distant air with heavenly notes resounds.


SONG OF THELMON.

"In the cool bosom of the solemn night
"With songs sublime I hail the Power Divine,
"As from yon orb the quivering beams of light
"Surround the shades, and through the ether bright
"Soften the scene, and o'er the trembling waters shine.


"'Mid splendent day oft jarring passions war,
"But calm at eve I tread the silent grove,
"And feel delight from every brook and star:
"Each solemn scene I view with sacred awe,
"While from a mental glance of Nature's law
"I learn the wonders of almighty love.


"Rude were the storms which deep through my sad breast
"Have striv'n the germs of virtue to expel;
"Rebellious passions robbed my soul of rest:
"But in despondency's most baleful hour
"I felt within a renovating Power
"Strengthen my soul, and all at last is well.


"My mind, no more in boisterous transports drowned,
"Reflective feels a bosom formed for love,
"Senses which touch the strings of thought profound,
"And taste each bliss in Nature's calm retreats;
"While o'er this wilderness of thorny sweets
"Wandering, with harmony of soul I move."


He ceased, and 'midst the thickets strayed along.
The listening virgin's bosom swelled with woe,
'Mid silent tears she heard the solemn song --
Well did her soul his heavenly accents know.


Re-kindled passions warm her heaving breast,
While memory teems with proofs of former love;
Deep in her heart each accent is impressed,
Scarce can she quit the lake, or shadowy waving grove.


Her fancy hears amidst the murmuring gale
Still the faint echoes of his music roll,
Homeward she bends at last, fatigued and pale,
And vainly strives to calm her trembling soul.


PART THE FOURTH.



THE moon is sunk, and heaven's resplendent stars
Glimmer 'mid nightly shades and morning grey,
O'er the low plains a whitish mist appears;
While slivering every eastern cloud, the dawn,
Infusing slow the promise of the morn,
Faint-tinged the couch where CARMEL thoughtful lay.


From her clear eyes large pearly drops descend,
Unusual fires thrill through her trembling veins:
As when the potent solar rays extend
O'er tracts where long congealing ice and snows
Like mountains rise, near polar circles froze,
And melting by its heat wild deluge the vast plains.


Remembrance poured its influence through her soul;
Her aching bosom heaved with bitter sighs,
Her agitated thoughts distracted roll;
And to her fev'rish fancy THELMON rose --
Now lofty verse in strains harmonious flows,
Now passion speaks in his all-potent eyes.


Like an imperfect dream the past appears,
His errors fleet like a dissolving cloud;
His virtues shine like uneclipsed stars:
No more the sense of wrongs secures her heart,
Her bosom burns with unavailing smart,
And all within the hopeless flame avowed.


Restless she lay, till o'er the mantling skies
The dazzling radiance of the morning rose;
From the broad light she turned her weeping eyes,
And, spent with passion and the weight of thought,
The transient comfort of soft sleep she sought,
And listless sunk at length to half repose.


Thus a sad prey to misery, CARMEL found
No kind resource to mitigate the wound;
Void of pursuits, her heart seeks no relief,
No active duty rouses her from grief:
Though calm she seemed, within the poison wrought;
And her affections quite absorbed each thought;
The light of day her sorrowing mind oppressed;
Night was alone congenial to her breast;
Each eve she strays to soothe her joyless soul,
And pleased beholds the lengthening shadows roll.



PART THE FIFTH.



IN the mild west dissolved the blaze of day;
The rosy heavens rich varying tints o'erspread;
Bright shone the hills beneath the evening ray;
Amid the corn wild crimson poppies blow,
All nature wore a universal glow,
And joy was echoed o'er thellumined mead.


Untouched by every accent of delight,
Amid the smiling harvest CARMEL strayed;
Then climbed a craggy hill of towering height,
Where hanging woods luxuriant foliage spread,
And wild blown flowers their spicy odours shed;
Thence she the grand extensive scene surveyed.


Night did not yet possess its dark domain,
But gradual shades o'erspread the burning sky;
The solemn lake, the flower-enamelled plain,
Catch the last rays of the descending orb,
Whose fiery blaze the distant seas absorb,
While through the western clouds the crimson glories fly.


Nature in glowing plenty smiled below,
Above the clouds incessant varying roll;
As CARMEL viewed the rapturous scenes to glow,
Touched by the view, the glorious work she praised,
And to the Universal Parent raised,
Fervent in prayer, her energetic soul.


The fading landscape lessens on her sight,
Amid the ether stars celestial shine;
Some scattered clouds still catch the ebbing light,
And by the glimmering rays distinct she viewed
THELMON, who lost in contemplation stood,
As if in converse with the heavenly Nine.


She strove to speak, but all her powers were bound:
O'er her fair breast fast flowed a silent flood,
While he with musing pace was wandering round
The rugged path, and passed regardless by;
He saw her not, but drew unconscious nigh,
Then mingled in the umbrage of the wood.


In vain again to calm her breast she tries,
Her livid eyes surveyed the ruthess heaven;
The briny showers she shed, the deep-felt sighs,
Which mixed with prayers her wretched bosom heaved,
Alike amid a friendless void were breathed,
Or by the winds to neighbouring mountains driven.


Now when the clouds rolled heavy o'er the stars,
And chilling midnight spread a dreary gloom,
She dried the painful sluices of her tears;
Devoid of hope she wished not for its light,
And, thoughtless of the dangers of the night,
Restless returned in silence to her home.



PART THE SIXTH.



THE shades of night and glimmering dawn are fled,
The rising sun the parting clouds has fired;
The purple hills illumined flame with red,
While THELMON, fraught with praise, forsakes his bed,
With love of Nature and her truths inspired.


The waving corn, moist with the pearly dew,
Glitters beneath the sun's refulgent rays;
Luxuriant o'er each hedge wild roses grew,
And ripening fruits prolific greet his view --
All Nature smiled a thousand various ways.


Silent this morn was his melodious tongue,
And listening to the songsters of the grove,
He envied their sweet lays, as blythe they sung;
For with a transient pang his heart was wrung,
Reflecting on their pure and artless loves.


Bitter remembrance deep pervades his soul,
The glistening lake, the high-grown trees he knew;
O'er the sweet plains his eyes rekindling roll,
"Here CARMEL'S virtues did his fires controul,"
Deeply he blushed, and quick his eyes withdrew.


Touched by her wrongs, his soul its guilt confessed;
His breast, which heaved with deep remorse and smart,
Mourning past crimes, an anxious wish possessed,
To own the errors of his altered heart.



PART THE SEVENTH.



CARMEL he seeks: the wandering maid he found,
And with each look inflicts a deeper wound;
She strove to veil her blushes from his sight,
And hide her terrors by a sudden flight;
Yet could not fly, nor scarce resolve to stay,
Her burning heart contending passions sway.


Approaching her, with awe serene he spoke,
While from his eyes the light of virtue broke;
With humble dignity his crimes confessed,
No rage against himself his words expressed:
Too well he knew, when swelled by passion's tide,
How hard the task the throbbing heart to guide;
And penitence he felt, devoid of pride.


He viewed her with surprize, for while he speaks,
Delight -- not anger, flushed her modest cheeks;
Themotions of her soul her eyes pourtray,
Where transient fires in vivid flashes play:
Rekindling transports as he gazed arise,
Which tinged his lips, and fired his rapturous eyes;
New sympathies within his bosom sprung,
Which warm in hope impel his glowing tongue:
Pure and refined his passions now appear,
His virtues strengthened, and his heart sincere;
His voice sublime his eyes alike inspire,
Pervade her soul, and fill her breast with fire:
Dubious no more, she seeks not to retreat,
Too strongly love did in her bosom beat;
Fast from her eyes the tears of transport flow,
Joy takes the language of her former woe;
Amid the shower a smile seraphic broke --
She gave her hand, and thus impassioned spoke:


"I seek not to restrain my throbbing heart,
"Nor veil its candour with the show of art;
"Forgiveness beams upon thee from mine eyes,
"While all thy virtues to my memory rise.
"Within I feel such powerful sympathy,
"Such strong attraction of my soul to thee,
"That no false pride in this important hour
"Swerves my pure heart with its tyrannic power.
"With agony I saw excess controul
"A mind whose grandeur ever awed my soul;
"Thy wonderous songs, replete with genuine fire,
"The love of nature which those songs inspire,
"Were in my heart impressed with power divine;
"In vain I strove thine image to resign,
"And mourned the fall of such a soul as thine:
"But now thy penitence overjoyed I view,
"And yield my heart, as to thy virtue due."


He heard, while joy redoubled in his breast,
And strong emotions every look expressed;
Sublime his soul its ardent love pourtrayed,
But most his future life his gratitude displayed.





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