Poems, Sacred and Moral/Conscience
For works with similar titles, see Conscience.
POEMS,
SACRED AND MORAL.
CONSCIENCE.
"There—lie for ever there" the Murderer said;
And prest his heel contemptuous on the dead—
"No terrors haunt the well-concerting mind!
"Vengeance my aim, thy gold I leave behind:
"Clutch'd in thy grasp be thy own knife survey'd—
"Thus—so may death self-sought thy name degrade!
"My steel, that did the deed, this lake shall hide—
"Hence—rust beneath the all-concealing tide—
"The long descent these mounting bubbles tell—
"Down; down—still deeper—to the fancied Hell.
"But why this needless care?—The wretch unknown—
"My garment bloodless—no man heard him groan—
"Nor He, the fabled Monarch of the skies—"
He spoke, and fix'd on heaven his iron eyes.
And prest his heel contemptuous on the dead—
"No terrors haunt the well-concerting mind!
"Vengeance my aim, thy gold I leave behind:
"Clutch'd in thy grasp be thy own knife survey'd—
"Thus—so may death self-sought thy name degrade!
"My steel, that did the deed, this lake shall hide—
"Hence—rust beneath the all-concealing tide—
"The long descent these mounting bubbles tell—
"Down; down—still deeper—to the fancied Hell.
"But why this needless care?—The wretch unknown—
"My garment bloodless—no man heard him groan—
"Nor He, the fabled Monarch of the skies—"
He spoke, and fix'd on heaven his iron eyes.
No terrors haunt the well-concerting mind!—
Say'st thou, when March unchains the midnight wind?
When the full blast, as Alp-descending Po
Whirls through the rocky streight the liquid snow,
Down the vale driving with resistless course,
Pours on thy walls its congregated force;
When tottering chimnies bellow o'er thy head,
And the floor quakes beneath thy sleepless bed?
Say'st thou, when March unchains the midnight wind?
When the full blast, as Alp-descending Po
Whirls through the rocky streight the liquid snow,
Down the vale driving with resistless course,
Pours on thy walls its congregated force;
When tottering chimnies bellow o'er thy head,
And the floor quakes beneath thy sleepless bed?
No terrors haunt thee!—Say'st thou, when the storm
Bids all its horrors, each in wildest form,
From adverse climes on wings of thunder haste,
And close around thee on the naked waste:
Bids at each flash untimely night retire,
And opes and shuts the living vault of fire:
When from each bursting cloud the arrowy flame
Seems at thy central breast to point its aim;
While crash on crash redoubles from on high,
As though the shatter'd fabric of the sky
Were hurl'd in hideous ruin through the air,
To whelm the guilty wretch whom lightnings spare?
Bids all its horrors, each in wildest form,
From adverse climes on wings of thunder haste,
And close around thee on the naked waste:
Bids at each flash untimely night retire,
And opes and shuts the living vault of fire:
When from each bursting cloud the arrowy flame
Seems at thy central breast to point its aim;
While crash on crash redoubles from on high,
As though the shatter'd fabric of the sky
Were hurl'd in hideous ruin through the air,
To whelm the guilty wretch whom lightnings spare?
No terrors haunt thee!—Lo, 'tis Winter's reign:
His broad hand, plunging in the Atlantic main,
Lifts into mountain piles the boiling deep,
And bounds with vales of death each billowy steep.
Now, when thy bark, the dire ascent surpast,
Turns to the black abyss the downward mast;
In that dread pause, while yet the dizzy prow
Poised on the verge o'erhangs the gulph below;
Now press thy conscious bosom, and declare
If guilt has raised no throbs of terror there.
His broad hand, plunging in the Atlantic main,
Lifts into mountain piles the boiling deep,
And bounds with vales of death each billowy steep.
Now, when thy bark, the dire ascent surpast,
Turns to the black abyss the downward mast;
In that dread pause, while yet the dizzy prow
Poised on the verge o'erhangs the gulph below;
Now press thy conscious bosom, and declare
If guilt has raised no throbs of terror there.
Still art thou proof?—In sleep I see thee laid:
Dreams by the past inspired thy sleep invade.
Houseless and drear a plain expands in view:
There travels one like him thy fury slew:
Couch'd in the brake, a ruffian from his den
Starts forth, and acts thy bloody deed again:
Like thine his mien, like thine his iron stare
Fix'd in defiance on the vault of air.
Lo, as secure he quits the unplunder'd dead,
Wide-weltering seas of fire before him spread:
With frenzied step he hurries to the shore,
Shrieks, plunges headlong, and is seen no more!
Dreams by the past inspired thy sleep invade.
Houseless and drear a plain expands in view:
There travels one like him thy fury slew:
Couch'd in the brake, a ruffian from his den
Starts forth, and acts thy bloody deed again:
Like thine his mien, like thine his iron stare
Fix'd in defiance on the vault of air.
Lo, as secure he quits the unplunder'd dead,
Wide-weltering seas of fire before him spread:
With frenzied step he hurries to the shore,
Shrieks, plunges headlong, and is seen no more!
Thou wak'st, and smil'st in scorn!—Has Heaven no dart
Potent to reach that adamantine heart?
Yes. He, whose viewless gales the forest bend,
Whose feeblest means attain the mightiest end,
Touches the secret spring that opes the cell
Where Conscience lurks, and slumbering horrors dwell.
Lo, as the wretch his careless path pursues,
Struck by his foot a rusted knife he views.
In thought the blade conceal'd from mortal eyes
Beneath the lake his troubled soul descries.
In wild dismay his clouded senses swim;
Cold streams of terror bathe each shivering limb:
Then with new fires in every nerve he burns;
To earth, to heaven, each flashing eyeball turns;
Buries with frantic hand the avenging knife
Deep in his breast, and renders life for life.
Potent to reach that adamantine heart?
Yes. He, whose viewless gales the forest bend,
Whose feeblest means attain the mightiest end,
Touches the secret spring that opes the cell
Where Conscience lurks, and slumbering horrors dwell.
Lo, as the wretch his careless path pursues,
Struck by his foot a rusted knife he views.
In thought the blade conceal'd from mortal eyes
Beneath the lake his troubled soul descries.
In wild dismay his clouded senses swim;
Cold streams of terror bathe each shivering limb:
Then with new fires in every nerve he burns;
To earth, to heaven, each flashing eyeball turns;
Buries with frantic hand the avenging knife
Deep in his breast, and renders life for life.