"Rest, rest, perturbèd Earth![BJ] O rest, thou doleful Mother of Mankind!" A Spirit sang in tones more plaintive than the wind: "From regions where no evil thing has birth I come--thy stains to wash away, 5 Thy cherished fetters to unbind, And open[130] thy sad eyes upon a milder day. The Heavens are thronged with martyrs that have risen From out thy noisome prison; The penal caverns groan 10 With tens of thousands rent from off the tree Of hopeful life,[BK]--by battle's whirlwind blown Into the deserts of Eternity. Unpitied havoc! Victims unlamented! But not on high, where madness is resented, 15 And murder causes some sad tears to flow, Though, from the widely-sweeping blow, The choirs of Angels spread, triumphantly augmented. II "False Parent of Mankind! Obdurate, proud, and blind, 20 I sprinkle thee with soft celestial dews, Thy lost, maternal heart to re-infuse! Scattering this far-fetched moisture from my wings, Upon the act a blessing I implore, Of which the rivers in their secret springs, 25 The rivers stained so oft with human gore, Are conscious;--may the like return no more! May Discord--for a Seraph's care Shall be attended with a bolder prayer-- May she, who once disturbed the seats of bliss 30 These mortal spheres above, Be chained for ever to the black abyss! And thou, O rescued Earth, by peace and love, And merciful desires, thy sanctity approve!" The Spirit ended his mysterious rite, 35 And the pure vision closed in darkness infinite." VARIANTS: [Footnote 130: 1837. To open ... 1816. ] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote BI: The title which this _Invocation to the Earth_ bore when first published in the _Thanksgiving Ode, with other short pieces chiefly referring to recent public events_, in 1816, was "_Elegiac Verses, February 1816_."--ED.] [Footnote BJ: Compare _Hamlet_, act I. scene V., l. 183-- Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! ED. ] [Footnote BK: "The loss of human life, on the French side alone, in the wars consequent on the Revolution, was estimated (in 1815) to have been 4,556,000." (Blair's _Chronological Tables_, p. 724.)--ED.] ODE[BL] Composed January 1816.--Published 1816 Carmina possumus Donare, et pretium dicere muneri. Non incisa notis marmora publicis, Per quæ spiritus et vita redit bonis Post mortem ducibus clarius indicant Laudes, quam----Pierides; neque, Si chartæ sileant quod bene feceris, Mercedem tuleris. HOR. _Car._ 8, lib. 4.[BM]