And waving standards kindle all the air: }
In crackling heaps the flaming forests rise,
The smoking cities darken half the skies.
Thro' burning woods and falling towers I sprung,
While torches hiss'd, and darts around me sung,
And, still expectant of some happier time,
Sought distant refuge in another clime.

"My term of sorrows came not: black Despair,
And lawless Force, and shrinking Fear, were there.
Woes, yet unfelt, were nigh;--fell Slavery shed
Her night of sorrows on my hapless head:
Doom'd each imperious order to fulfil,
And watch a ruthless master's various will.
Five years, exposed to unremitted pain,
I languish'd there--'till Friendship broke my chain.

"Now o'er my head full fifteen suns had burn'd, }
Since from my native rocks my eyes I turn'd: }
And practised now in woe, my soul no longer mourn'd. }
I sought my patron, and (a bark supplied)
His fortunes follow'd o'er the foamy tide.

"From these dire shores our rapid course we held;
Auspicious gales the flying canvas swell'd;
And joy's faint sunshine kindled in my eyes,
As the last mountain mingled with the skies:
When, by conflicting winds together driven,
A night of clouds involved the starless heaven;
Fierce and more fierce th' increasing tempest blew,
The thunder rattled, and the lightning flew.
Soon, borne at random o'er the watery way,
The yawning rocks our guideless ship betray;
My shrieking comrades sink.--Some power unseen
Preserved me, trembling, thro' the deathful scene;
I rode th' opposing waves, and from the steep
Beheld the vessel plunge into the flashing deep.

"Beneath a sheltering wood all night I lay,
'Till morn had chased the flying stars away;
Then sought the wave-worn strand.--The storm was dead;
And Silence o'er the deep her pinions spread.
All--all were gone!--I saw my doom severe;
And, dull with suffering, scarcely dropp'd a tear!

"There, by the murmurs of the sea's hoarse wave,
Scorch'd on the rock, or shivering in the cave,
Long, long I stay'd: Fate yet prolong'd my day,
And Grief and Famine spared their willing prey.
A roving bark at length approach'd, and bore
The suppliant stranger to fair India's shore.

"With wondering steps I traced the sunny strand,
And mark'd each giant work of nature's