Scatter'd by winds beyond the Libyan desert, And cast in tillage o'er the corn-sown fields, Where Memphis flourish'd, and the Pharaohs reign'd; Egypt's grey piles of hieroglyphic grandeur, That have survived the language which they speak, Preserving its dead emblems to the eye, Yet hiding from the mind what these reveal - Her pyramids would be mere pinnacles, Her giant statues, wrought from rocks of granite, As this stupendous mound of catacombs, Thus far, with undiverted thought, and eye And breathe the gladdening influence of the wind, Whirl'd like a torch of fire that seems a circle, THE PELICAN ISLAND. CANTO THIRD. NINE times the age of man that coral reef Had bleach'd beneath the torrid noon, and borne The thunder of a thousand hurricanes, Raised by the jealous ocean, to repel That strange encroachment on his old domain. His rage was impotent; his wrath fulfill'd The counsels of eternal Providence, And 'stablish'd what he strove to overturn : For every tempest threw fresh wrecks upon it; Sand from the shoals, exuviæ from the deep, Fragments of shells, dead sloughs, sea-monsters' bones, Whales stranded in the shallows, hideous weeds Heap'd the rough surface, till the various mass, Death's spoils, and life's hid treasures, thus enrich'd Of meanest substance but in course was turn'd To solid use or noble ornament. All seasons were propitious; every wind. From the hot Siroc to the wet Monsoon, Temper'd the crude materials; while heaven's dew Fell on the sterile wilderness as sweetly As though it were a garden of the Lord; And did its duty, known to Him who sent it. Such time had past, such changes had transfigured The aspect of that solitary isle, When I again in spirit, as before, Assumed mute watch above it. Slender blades Of grass were shooting through the dark brown earth, Like rays of light, transparent in the sun, Or after showers with liquid gems illumined; Fountains through filtering sluices sallied forth, Green herbage graced their banks, resplendent flowers Unlock'd their treasures, and let flow their fragrance. Then insect legions, prank'd with gaudiest hues, |