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by seeming cruel fate
Was snatchā€™d from Africā€™s fancyā€™d happy seat:
What pangs excruciating must molest,
What sorrows labour in my parentā€™s breast?
Steelā€™d was that soul and by no misery movā€™d
That from a father seizā€™d his babe belovā€™d:
Such, such my case. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic sway?

For favours past, great Sir, our thanks are due,
And thee we ask thy favours to renew,
Since in thy powā€™r, as in thy will before,
To sooth the griefs, which thou didā€™st once deplore.
May heavā€™nly grace the sacred sanction give
To all thy works, and thou for ever live
Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame,
Though praise immortal crowns the patriotā€™s name,
But to conduct to heavā€™ns refulgent fane,
May fiery coursers sweep thā€™ ethereal plain,
And bear thee upwards to that blest abode,
Where, like the prophet, thou shalt find thy God.

Ode to Neptune On Mrs. Wā āøŗā€™s Voyage to England I

While raging tempests shake the shore,
While Aelusā€™ thunders round us roar,
And sweep impetuous oā€™er the plain
Be still, O tyrant of the main;
Nor let thy brow contracted frowns betray,
While my Susanna skims the watā€™ry way.

II

The Powā€™r propitious hears the lay,
The blue-eyā€™d daughters of the sea
With sweeter cadence glide along,
And Thames responsive joins the song.
Pleasā€™d with their notes Sol sheds benign his ray,
And double radiance decks the face of day.

III

To court thee to Britanniaā€™s arms
Serene the climes and mild the sky,
Her region boasts unnumberā€™d charms,
Thy welcome smiles in evā€™ry eye.
Thy promise, Neptune keep, record my prayā€™r,
Not give my wishes to the empty air.

Boston, October 10, 1772.

To a Lady on Her Coming to North-America with Her Son, for the Recovery of Her Health

Indulgent muse! my grovā€™ling mind inspire,
And fill my bosom with celestial fire.

See from Jamaicaā€™s fervid shore she moves,
Like the fair mother of the blooming loves,
When from above the Goddess with her hand
Fans the soft breeze, and lights upon the land;
Thus she on Neptuneā€™s watā€™ry realm reclinā€™d
Appearā€™d, and thus invites the lingā€™ring wind.

ā€œArise, ye winds, America explore,
ā€œWaft me, ye gales, from this malignant shore;
ā€œThe Northern milder climes I long to greet,
ā€œThere hope that health will my arrival meet.ā€
Soon as she spoke in my ideal view
The winds assented, and the vessel flew.

Madam, your spouse bereft of wife and son,
In the groveā€™s dark recesses pours his moan;
Each branch, wide-spreading to the ambient sky,
Forgets its verdure, and submits to die.

From thence I turn, and leave the sultry plain,
And swift pursue thy passage oā€™er the main:
The ship arrives before the favā€™ring wind,
And makes the Philadelphian port assignā€™d,
Thence I attend you to Bostoniaā€™s arms,
Where genā€™rous friendship evā€™ry bosom warms:
Thrice welcome here! may health revive again,
Bloom on thy cheek, and bound in evā€™ry vein!
Then back return to gladden evā€™ry heart,
And give your spouse his soulā€™s far dearer part,
Receivā€™d again with what a sweet surprise,
The tear in transport starting from his eyes!
While his attendant son with blooming grace
Springs to his fatherā€™s ever dear embrace.
With shouts of joy Jamaicaā€™s rocks resound,
With shouts of joy the country rings around.

To a Lady on Her Remarkable Preservation in an Hurricane in North-Carolina

Though thou didā€™st hear the tempest from afar,
And feltā€™st the horrors of the watā€™ry war,
To me unknown, yet on this peaceful shore
Methinks I hear the storm tumultuous roar,
And how stern Boreas with impetuous hand
Compellā€™d the Nereids to usurp the land.
Reluctant rose the daughters of the main,
And slow ascending glided oā€™er the plain,
Till Aolus in his rapid chariot drove
In gloomy grandeur from the vault above:
Furious he comes. His winged sons obey
Their frantic sire, and madden all the sea.
The billows rave, the windā€™s fierce tyrant roars,
And with his thundā€™ring terrors shakes the shores:
Broken by waves the vesselā€™s frame is rent,
And strows with planks the watā€™ry element.

But thee, Maria, a kind Nereidā€™s shield
Preservā€™d from sinking, and thy form upheld:
And sure some heavā€™nly oracle designā€™d
At that dread crisis to instruct thy mind
Things of eternal consequence to weigh,
And to thine heart just feelings to convey
Of things above, and of the future doom,
And what the births of the dread world to come.

From tossing seas I welcome thee to land.
ā€œResign her, Nereid,ā€ ā€™twas thy Godā€™s command.
Thy spouse late buried, as thy fears conceivā€™d,
Again returns, thy fears are all relievā€™d:
Thy daughter blooming with superior grace
Again thou seeā€™st, again thine arms embrace;
O come, and joyful show thy spouse his heir,
And what the blessings of maternal care!

To a Lady and Her Children, on the Death of Her Son and Their Brother

Oā€™erwhelming sorrow now demands my song:
From death the overwhelming sorrow sprung.
What flowing tears? What hearts with grief opprest?
What sighs on sighs heave the fond parentā€™s breast?
The brother weeps, the hapless sisters join
Thā€™ increasing woe, and swell the crystal brine;
The poor, who once his genā€™rous bounty fed,
Droop, and bewail their benefactor dead.
In death the friend, the kind companion lies,
And in one death what various comfort dies!

Thā€™ unhappy mother sees the sanguine rill
Forget to flow, and natureā€™s wheels stand still,
But see from earth his spirit far removā€™d,
And know no grief recals your best-belovā€™d:
He, upon pinions swifter than the wind,
Has left mortalityā€™s sad scenes behind
For joys to this terrestial state unknown,
And glories richer than the monarchā€™s crown.
Of virtueā€™s steady course the prize behold!
What blissful wonders to his mind unfold!
But of celestial joys I sing in vain:
Attempt not, muse, the too adventā€™rous strain.

No more in briny showā€™rs, ye friends around,
Or bathe his clay, or waste them on the ground:
Still do you weep, still wish for his return?
How cruel thus to wish, and thus to mourn?
No more for him the streams of sorrow pour,
But haste to join him on the heavā€™nly shore,
On harps of gold to tune immortal lays,
And to your God immortal anthems raise.

To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Ladyā€™s Brother and Sister, and a Child of the Name of Avis, Aged One Year

On Deathā€™s domain intent I fix my eyes,
Where human nature in vast ruin lies:
With pensive mind I search the drear abode,
Where the great conquā€™ror

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