"I courted there, and found her kind, "A ghostess, suited to my mind; "Her wedding gown was flounced with soot, "And near her nose hung snuff and s.m.u.t:
"She pointed to her father"s gate, "(A graveyard was his whole estate) "The bars were weak, the boards were thin, "She sung a psalm--and took me in.
"Of shadowy stuff my parents were, "Composed of fogs, or framed of air: "He sold his brimstone to the skies, "While nitre kindled in Her eyes.
"They feasted on the vapours blue, "Their gla.s.s of wine was evening dew; "On Etna"s top they made their bed, "And there was I, their devil, bred.
"My prowess is almost adored, "I blunt the edge of Orion"s sword; "I seize Aquarius by the throat, "Nor care for Libra, or the Goat.
"My word is, when I meet my foes, "Here"s to the Lucky Wind that blows!
"And, instant, all is sighs and groans, "And battered heads, and broken bones.
"I now reward you for your spite-- "I draw my weapon--see, how bright!
"My last exploit in war I crown, "And thus--and thus--I throw you down!
"Ah, miscreant! why that scream of death?
"I only meant to--draw your teeth!-- "Oh no!--I scorn to take your life-- "Go, Madam,--be a prudent wife.
"But, lady, I would have you know "You lose your arrows and your bow:
"They are indeed of slender make, "And, in your hands might kill a rake: "So, to prevent such fatal harms, "I leave you dest.i.tute of arms-- "I now must go!"--he, laughing, said, And vanished to the Stygian shade.
This contest with Megara done, Thou dear, defeated Amazon!-- As happy, now, as man can be, I hang my pen on yonder tree:
It only asks one day of rest, It yields to every changing blast-- Yes--let it stay suspended there, And strike My Colours--if you dare!
[119] I have found no trace of this outside of the 1809 edition.
THE REPUBLICAN FESTIVAL[120]
In Compliment to Colonel Munroe, on his return to America, 1797
As late at a feast that she gave to Munroe, Her mark of attention to show, Young liberty gave her libations to flow, To honor where honor is due.
Return"d from the country that trampled on crowns Where high in opinion he stood, Dark malace attack"d him, with sneers, and with frowns, But he met the applause of the good.
To the Knight of the Sceptre unwelcome he came But freedom his merit confess"d-- He look"d at their malice, and saw it was fame, And pity forgave them the rest.
Good humor, and pleasure, and friendship did join, And reason the pleasure increased; And the hero, who captured the British Burgoyne, Presided and honor"d the feast.
On a broomstick from h.e.l.l, with a quill in his hand, Baal-Zephou came riding the air; He look"d, and he saw that among the whole band Not a single apostate was there.
Disappointed, he sigh"d, but still hover"d about Till the toasts, with a vengeance, began-- He met the first four; when the next they gave out[A]
To his cavern he fled back again.
[A] Public censure, arm"d with the spear of Ithurial: may it discover the demons of tyranny, wherever they lurk, and pursue them to their native obscurity.--_Freneau"s note._
In liberty"s temple, the petulant cur Could see not a man but he hates; With a curse on her cause, and a sneer, and a spur He fled from the frown of a Gates.
[120] From the edition of 1815. Monroe was United States Minister to France from May, 1794, until August, 1796, when he was recalled for lack of sympathy with the administration. He did not arrive in America until the following year. He was loudly hailed by the Republican forces, and a dinner was arranged for him in Philadelphia over which General Gates presided and at which Jefferson, the Vice President, Dayton, the Speaker, McKean, the Chief Justice, and many others conspicuous in the government were present.
ODE[121]
For July the Fourth, 1799
Once more, our annual debt to pay, We meet on this auspicious day That will, through every coming age, Columbia"s patriot sons engage.
From this fair day we date the birth, Of freedom"s reign, restored to earth, And millions learn, too long depraved, How to be govern"d, not enslaved.[122]
Thou source of every true delight Fair peace, extend thy sway, While to thy temple we invite All nations on this day.[123]
O dire effects of tyrant power!
How have ye darken"d every hour, And made those hours embitter"d flow That nature meant for joys below.
With sceptred pride, and brow of awe Oppression gave the world her law, And man, who should such law disdain, Resign"d to her malignant reign.
Here on our quiet native coast No more we dread the warring host That once alarm"d, when Britain rose, And made Columbia"s sons her foes.
Parent of every cruel art That stains the soul, that steels the heart, Fierce war, with all thy bleeding band, Molest no more this rising land.
May thy loud din be changed for peace, All human woe and warfare cease, And nations sheath the sword again To find a long, pacific reign.[124]
Soon may all tyrants disappear And man to man be less severe; The ties of love more firmly bind, Not fetters, that enchain mankind.
But virtue must her strength maintain, Or short, too short, is freedom"s reign, And, if her precepts we despise, Tyrants and kings again will rise.[125]
No more an angry, plundering race, May man in every clime embrace, And we on this remoter sh.o.r.e, Exult in b.l.o.o.d.y wars no more.
On this returning annual day May we to heaven our homage pay, Happy, that here the time"s began That made mankind the friend of man!--
[121] From the edition of 1815. The t.i.tle is manifestly wrong. The poem was first printed in a small pamphlet with the following t.i.tle page:
"Means | for the | Preservation | of | Public Liberty. | An | Oration | delivered in the New Dutch Church, | on the | Fourth of July, 1797. | Being the twenty-first | Anniversary of our Independence. | By G. J.
Warner. | [_Ten lines from Freneau_] | New York: | Printed at the Argus Office, | for | Thomas Greenleaf and Naphtali Judah. | 1797."
At the end of the pamphlet is the poem with the t.i.tle: "Ode | (Composed for the Occasion, by P. Freneau.) | The Musick Performed | by the | Uranian Musical Society."
[122] This stanza in 1797 was: