(seq. 72)

67

To drag your mind from this disolving ball

On which I once could hear the solemn fate

Denouncd from him, who fills all Heav'n with state

Whose pomp & fearful sovereign sway

Fills heav'n & hell & earth & notes the sea,

Whose frown wraps worlds or rools them into naught

Whose word but giv'n all worlds to being brought,

Attentive hear, I once could reach your heart,

And move with sympathy the tender part

Of my horatio lov'd, & swell his breast

With empty trifles or trifling jest;

Then hear of truths of infinite concern,

One solemn truth above all others learn,

That when this wobweb thread of life is spun,

When times gay scenes & flesh & sense have done,

When worlds material vanish into night,

Wheneverlasting gloom shall veil rapid flight

Then naught awaits the senses here below,

Where sordid joys in streams of fancy flow;