The Humourous Poetry of the English Language

420
With whose ignoble nature thy free spirit
Held no communion.--'T was well done, fair creature!
T' assert the independence of a mind
Created-generated I would say--
Free as "that chartered libertine, the air."
Joy to thy chosen partner! blest exchange!
Work of mysterious sympathy I that drew
Your kindred souls by****
* * * * * *
There fled the noblest spirit--The most pure,
Most sublimated essence that ere dwelt
In earthly tabernacle. Gone thou art,
Exhaled, dissolved, diffused, commingled now
Into and with the all-absorbing frame
Of Nature, the great mother. Ev'n in life,
While still, pent-up in flesh, and skin, and bones,
My thoughts and feelings like electric flame
Shot through the solid mass, toward the source,
And blended with the general elements,
When thy young star o'er life's horizon hung
Far from it's zenith yet low lagging clouds
(Vapors of earth) obscured its heaven-born rays--
Dull joys of prejudice and superstition
And vulgar decencies begirt thee round;
And thou didst wear awhile th' unholy bonds
Of "holy matrimony!" and didst vail
Awhile thy lofty spirit to the cheat.--
But reason came-and firm philosophy,
And mild philanthropy, and pointed out
The shame it was-the crying, crushing shame,
To curb within a little paltry pale
The love that over all created things
Should be diffusive as the atmosphere.
Then did thy boundless tenderness expand
Over all space--all animated things
And things inanimate. Thou hadst a heart,
A ready tear for all.--The dying whale,
Stranded and gasping--ripped up for his blubber
By Man the Tyrant.--The small sucking pig
Slain for his riot.--The down-trampled flower
Crushed by his cruel foot.--ALL, EACH, and ALL