Hospitality

Lives there a man whose harden'd soul Ne'er felt soft Pity's kind control; Ne'er learn'd for others' joys to glow, Or shed the tear for others' woe; Whose spark of pure celestial fire Too soon was quench'd in base desire; And, once of pure celestial ray, The mind's best virtues die away. I bid him turn his tearless eye, Since Fancy's wing so far can fly; And view Arabia's desert plains, Where pure unfetter'd Nature reigns; 'Mid sultry wastes and deserts drear, The sand reflects affection's tear; And all the soul, from fetters free, Dissolves in Hospitality. Behold the friendless trav'ler roam These sandy deserts far from home; And see the deadly whirlwinds rise, Tremendous sweep the crimson skies; Heave flaming columns from the ground, And hurl them all the desert round; Then fall half smother'd on the sand-- A stranger in a desert land. See on the torrid ground he lies, And scarcely lifts his feeble eyes; While pangs oppress his heaving breast, And death's dark cave his only rest; No wife, no child, no parent near, To raise his head, and wipe the tear; No pillow and no fountain by, His only refuge seems--to die. But when the whirlwind's rage is o'er, And peaceful lies the sandy shore; The savage smiling hastes to see, The beam of sweet tranquillity; The helpless stranger griev'd shall view, And tears his manly cheeks bedew; For him a sigh to Heav'n shall send, And own a brother and a friend. He softly raises then the head, His eyes the tears of sorrow shed; While friendly, yet discordant sounds, Pour balm in all his inward wounds; Bid once again the pulses glow, The veins with crimson torrents flow; The savage shall embrace a guest, Shall bid him welcome to his breast. At length the trav'ler glad shall rise, And casting round his grateful eyes; Shall call the savage nature's child, The guardian angel of the wild; And to the tent in peace convey'd, Shall welcome glad the sacred shade, And while he views each favor free, Bless purest Hospitality.