THOU wonder of the Atlantic shore, Whose deeds a million hearts appall; Thy fate shall pity's eye deplore, Or vengeance for thy ruin call. Thou man of soul! whose feeble form Seems as a leaf the gales defy, Though scattered in sedition's storm, Yet borne by glorious hope on high. Such did the youthful Ammon seem, And such does Europe's scourge appear, As, of the sun, a vertic beam, The brightest in the golden year. Nature, who many a gift bestowed, The strong herculean limbs denied, But gave -- a mind, where genius glowed, A soul, to valor's self allied. Ambition as her curse was seen, Thy every blessing to annoy; To blight thy laurels' tender green; The banner of thy fame destroy. Ambition, by the bard defined The fault of godlike hearts alone, Like fortune in her frenzy, blind, Here gives a prison, there a throne. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A LETTER TO LADY [MISS] MARGARET-CAVANDISH-HOLLES-HARLEY, WHEN A CHILD by MATTHEW PRIOR KNEE-DEEP IN JUNE by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY LATE AUTUMN by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM ASOLANDO: THE BEAN-FEAST by ROBERT BROWNING SUNBEAM AND SHADOW by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER SONNET: 128 by LUIS DE CAMOENS SONG OF THE COLONISTS DEPARTING FOR NEW ZEALAND by THOMAS CAMPBELL |