ODE TO FEAR.

Thou, to whom the world unknown,

With all its shadowy shapes, is shown;

Who seest, appall'd, the unreal scene,

While Fancy lifts the veil between:

Ah Fear! ah frantic Fear!

I see, I see thee near.

I know thy hurried step, thy haggard eye!

Like thee I start; like thee disorder'd fly.

For, lo, what monsters in thy train appear!

Danger, whose limbs of giant mould

What mortal eye can fix'd behold?

Who stalks his round, an hideous form,

Howling amidst the midnight storm;

Or throws him on the ridgy steep

Of some loose hanging rock to sleep:

And with him thousand phantoms join'd,

Who prompt to deeds accursed the mind:

And those, the fiends, who, near allied,

O'er Nature's wounds, and wrecks, preside;

Whilst Vengeance, in the lurid air,

Lifts her red arm, exposed and bare:

On whom that raveningbrood of Fate,

Who lap the blood of sorrow, wait:

Who, Fear, this ghastly train can see,

And look not madly wild, like thee!