ode on the departed regency bill

(march, 1789)

daughter of chaos' doting years,

nurse of ten thousand hopes and fears,

whether thy airy, insubstantial shade

(the rights of sepulture now duly paid)

spread abroad its hideous form

on the roaring civil storm,

deafening din and warring rage

factions wild with factions wage;

or under-ground, deep-sunk, profound,

among the demons of the earth,

with groans that make the mountains shake,

thou mourn thy ill-starr'd, blighted birth;

or in the uncreated void,

where seeds of future being fight,

with lessen'd step thou wander wide,

to greet thy mother—ancient night.

and as each jarring, monster-mass is past,

fond recollect what once thou wast:

in manner due, beneath this sacred oak,

hear, spirit, hear! thy presence i invoke!

by a monarch's heaven-struck fate,

by a disunited state,

by a generous prince's wrongs.

by a senate's strife of tongues,

by a premier's sullen pride,

louring on the changing tide;

by dread thurlow's powers to awe

rhetoric, blasphemy and law;

by the turbulent ocean—

a nation'smotion,

by the harlot-caresses

of borough addresses,

by days few and evil,

(thy portion, poor devil!)

by power, wealth, and show,

(the gods by men adored,)

by nameless poverty,

(their hell abhorred,)

by all they hope, by all they fear,

hear! and appear!