Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SUN AND THE BATS, &C.; A FABLE, by ROYALL TYLER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SUN AND THE BATS, &C.; A FABLE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis aesop tells how certain bats
Last Line: I'll smile, and more refulgent smile.
Alternate Author Name(s): Old Simon; S.
Subject(s): French Revolution (1789); Politics & Government


'TIS Aesop tells how certain bats,
In a dark hole, like Democrats,
Held a fraternal club;
And chose a president and clerk,
And speechified, and in the dark,
Gave the fraternal hug.

Cit bat, cit owl, cit mole, was there;
Cit beetle join'd the circle;
Cit frog, cit toad, to them repair,
And cunning cit, mud turtle.

Each came as he inclined to;
For why? This same society
Was self created, do you see,
And each one might a member be,
And come if he'd a mind to.

And now they mingle white and black,
And hug and kiss, protest and chat;
Address, remonstrate, vote their whims,
And scream, like noisy jacobins,
'Gainst animals of quality:
They vote the eagle and the grouse,
The lion bold and creeping mouse,
The whale and puny water louse,
Born to one blest equality.

Nem con they vote, that government
Should spring from them, with free consent,
With all its proud projectiles;
That laws and rights, and dignity,
And the state's high authority,
All sprung from them, the reptiles.

Laws they styl'd governmental tricks,
Made for mean slaves, not free born cits;
And voted one and all, that they
Would no such tyranny obey,
As sprung from mean allegiance;
And lastly, these same cunning elves,
Shunning the light, purblind themselves,
Voted the sun a grievance.

Marching in his meridian height,
Array'd in royal robes of light,
Pouring through planetary scenes,
Benevolence from all his beams,
Dispensing heat, light, life and food,
On earth, in air, and peopled flood,
Gilding with joy the jocund days,
Of millions sporting in his rays;
The sun -- whose high good breeding shines
On dunghills, and on diamond mines;
On British strength and English riches;
And sovereign people without breeches;
On yankee fair with modest charms,
And Tallien with naked arms.

The sun -- who through a cranny spy'd,
The little rage of demo pride,
Then smil'd contempt on their ill nature,
As Adams smiles with dignity,
At an insulting French decree,
Or blackguard piece in Bache's paper.

Thus smil'd the solar president,
As through the ecliptic states he went,
And heard these demos hiss and croak,
And saw them flutter, crawl, and vote,
And yell their democratic clarion;
He saw, unmov'd for oft he'd seen,
Gnats, flies, and bugs buz in his beam,
And oft his rays had pass'd o'er carrion.

He smil'd, and thus address'd the club:
"Ye loathsome cits of dirt and mud,
Come forth, and view my cheerful rays,
If your weak eyes can bear the blaze;
Come view aloft, each grov'ling soul,
Where my united planets roll;
Count, if you can, one single star,
From nearest Mars to Herschell far;
Whose light, whose heat, and influence dread,
Springs not from me their federal head:
Then view this joyous earth, which seems
To turn rejoicing in my beams;
Then view this land which gave you birth,
The favourite spot of all the earth:
See where the broad Atlantic laves
Your shores with riches on its waves;
From where the hardy sons of Maine
Fish treasures from the oozy main,
To the farthest verge of Federal soil,
Where Georgia's wooly patriots toil:
See commerce ply her feathering oars,
Her broad sails whiten all your shores:
See rustic life her treasure yields,
See laughing labour deck your fields,
While buxom health revives the plain,
Flushes each cheek, swells every vein:
See countless rivers roll their tides,
See busy Hamlets spot their sides,
Where social life lights up its fires,
Religion points her holy spires;
Industry takes her patient stand,
And law, and peace, walk hand in hand."

Know then ye envious souls! my beams
Shed all the bliss through all these scenes,
I give to commerce all her gales,
I raise the wind which swells her sails;
I smile, and earth her treasures yields,
In rich luxuriance o'er your fields;
I raise the mist which feeds the stream,
I deck its banks with liveliest green;
I tint the buxom cheek of health,
I give your country all its wealth;
Should I resign my power, the world,
Like France, would be in ruin hurl'd.

While all the good resound my praise,
And bless my power with grateful lays;
Shall I, because such fools as you,
A factious, purblind, dirty crew:
Shall I, because you pertly sue,
Destroy the good to flatter you?
The only vengeance I shall take,
For all your democratic prate,
Is this -- while Bats and Demos whine
I'll smile, and MORE REFULGENT SMILE.





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