Oxford a Poem
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: OXFORD. PART I. ETERNAL glory of triumphant mind ! To thee belongs the homage of mankind : For what though empires spread their vast control Far as the winds exult, or waters roll; Though Tyrian merchandise their ports bedeck, And navies thunder at their awful beck!? The pride of commerce and the awe of power Melt into dreams, at desolation's hour: Then, what remains of kingdoms that have been ? Lo! deserts wave, where capitals were seen! The wild-grass quivers o'er each mangl'd pile And winter moans along the archless aisle; Where once they flourished ruins grimly tell, And shade the air with melancholy spell, While from their wreck a tide of feeling rolls In awful wisdom through reflective souls ! What then alone omnipotently reigns, When Empires grovel on deserted plains, In morning lustre, to outdare t
...he night That time engenders o'er their vanish'd might ? 'Tismind! an immortality below, That gilds the past, and bids the future glow ; 'Tis mind! heroic, pure, devoted mind, To God appealing for corrupt mankind, Reflecting back the image that He gave Ere sin began, or earth became a slave! Exalting thought! when ages are no more, Like sunken billows on a far-off shore, A second life, in lofty prose or song, Their glories bear, to light the world along!? And ever thus may spirit be refin'd; For what is Godhead, but consummate mind ? Or Heaven, but one surpassing realm of thought, With each perfection of His wisdom fraught ? Not what we have, but what our natures feel, By truth unfolded for sublimest zeal, Developes all which makes our being great, And links a human to immortal state. Than this, could fancy weave a darker curse ?? That man is meaner than the universe! Creation is Eternal Will, expre...
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