Now I had no one to comfort me save the Muse, and she was rather
moody--scarcely could I get her to bray out these lines that follow:-
Behold this wondrous edifice,
Both heaven and earth comprising,
The universe and all that is
At God's command arising -
This world, with ramparts wide from pole to pole,
Down from its starry, brilliant dome,
E'en to the depths where angry billows roll,
And beasts that through the forest roam -
All things that sea and sky afford,
Thy faithful subjects eke to be;
A lesser heaven, a home for thee
Oh! man, creation's lord.
But once that thou desired to know
The ways of sin, seductive,
The hellish tempter, to our woe,
Became a power destructive;
He cursed our earth and ruin brought on all,
Yea, very nature felt the bane -
Its blighted walls now totter to their fall,
And soon disorder rules again.
This earthly palace then at last,
Unroofed, dismantled and decayed,
A hideous, barren waste is laid
By desolation's blast.
Behold oh, man! this glorious place
In the empyrean hovering
While all is but a treach'rous face
Foul swamps and quagmires covering.
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