Thro' this her all-inquiring eye, Attentive from her station high, Beheld, abandon'd to despair, The ruins of her fav'rite fair; And with a voice, whose awful sound Appall'd the guilty world around, Bid the tumultuous winds be still; To numbers bow'd each list'ning hill; Uncurl'd the surging of the main, And smooth'd the thorny bed of pain; The golden harp of heav'n she strung, And thus the tuneful goddess sung: "Lovely PENITENT, arise, Come, and claim thy kindred skies; Come, thy sister angels say, Thou hast wept thy stains away. "Let experience now decide, 'Twixt the good and evil, try'd, In the smooth enchanted ground, Say, unfold the treasures found. "Structures, rais'd by morning dreams, Sands that trip the flitting streams, Down that anchors on the air, Clouds that paint their changes there. "Seas that smoothly dimpling lie, While the storm impends on high, Showing in an obvious glass, Joys that in possession pass. "Transient, fickle, light, and gay, Flatt'ring, only to betray; What, alas! can life contain? Life, like all its circles, vain. "Will the STORK, intending rest, On the billow build her nest? Will the BEE demand his store From the bleak and bladeless shore! "MAN alone, intent to stray, Ever turns from WISDOM'S way; Lays up wealth in foreign land, Sows the sea, and plows the sand. "Soon this elemental mass, Soon th' encumb'ring world shall pass; Form be wrapt in wasting fire, TIME be spent, and LIFE expire. "Then, ye boasted works of men! Where is your asylum then? Sons of PLEASURE, sons of CARE, Tell me, mortals, tell me where? "Gone, like traces on the deep, Like a sceptre grasp'd in sleep; Dews exhal'd from morning glades, Melting snows, and gliding shades. "Pass the world, and what's behind? Virtue's gold, by fire refin'd; From an universe deprav'd, From the wreck of nature sav'd. "Like the life-supporting grain, Fruit of patience and of pain, On the swain's autumnal day, Winnow'd from the chaff away. "Little TREMBLER, fear no more, Thou hast plenteous crops in store; Seeds, by genial sorrows sown, More than all thy scorners own. "What, tho' hostile earth despise, Heaven beholds with gentler eyes; Heav'n thy friendless steps shall guide, Cheer thy hours, and guard thy side. "When the fatal trump shall sound, When th' immortals pour around, Heav'n shall thy return attest, Hail'd by myriads of the bless'd. "Little native of the skies, Lovely PENITENT, arise, Calm thy bosom, clear thy brow, VIRTUE is thy sister now. "More delightful are my woes Than the rapture PLEASURE knows; Richer far the weeds I bring Than the robes that grace a king. "On my wars of shortest date, Crowns of endless triumph wait; On my cares a period bless'd, On my toils, eternal rest.