Now we leave the crowded city,
With its mingled good and evil,
With its noise, and din, and bustle,
And the roll of laden waggon,
And the mail cart, and the black van;
And we pass a little onward,
Down beside the pleasant river,
To the fields of war and bloodshed,
Where destruction's storm is raging,
Where the valiant and the brave men
All around are thickly falling--
Falling as the leaves of Autumn,
Trampled in the dust around them,
Where they soon will be forgotten,
Sleeping in the depth of ages.
Gory red the river runneth,
And the plains with blood are steaming--
Boiling blood, which from the wounded
Floweth, gushing fast and freely.
Why is all this ruthless ravage,
And this people fiercely warring?
It is for a vain ambition,
Or a little earthly matter
Which they cannot settle better
Than in war and deadly bloodshed,
Or to gain an angry vengeance
For some insult which appeareth
To imagination hideous.
Now we leave the sterner presence
Of the earth and all its changes,
And we take the wings of fancy,
(Which is sister to poesy),
Guided by the light of record
Thereon mount, and fly, surveying,
Far above the heights of knowledge.
And we take a retrospective
Of the ancient times and people,
When was nature young and blooming,
When our fathers were created,
And within the blessed Eden
Set to tend and to adorn it.
Adam with his Eve beloved,
Happy in their single nature,
Thus brought forth to joy and pleasure,
Innocent and sweet amusement,
In attending on the fair wants
Of the creatures set around them,
Over which, in kingly greatness,
They were made the head, the purpose
Of these others in creation,
From the unexplored chaos.
Thence we come into the present.
Age to age doth bring us onward
Through the fickle term of nations
And the changes of the people,
Mid their tumults and their tranquils,
As they stand in pomp and glory,
Firm and faithful in their own strength,
Till its frailty cometh on them
And they are completely conquered,--
Broken down in great destruction.
O'er the waters of the deluge
We come sailing onward, onward;
And arrive with many records
From the many downcast nations,
From the people of all ages,
First, and last, and intervening.
And we pass the time allotted
To the gods of superstition,
When the world was set in darkness,
In the fear of gods of fancy,
Who held counsel on Olympus.
There sat Jupiter, the greatest,
On his ivory and gold throne,
And communed with