Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ENIGMA, by NATHANIEL COTTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ENIGMA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Chloe, I boast celestial date
Last Line: What thousands I deny.
Subject(s): Earth; Nature; World


CHLOE, I boast celestial date,
Ere time began to roll;
So wide my power, my sceptre spurns
The limits of the pole.

When from the mystic womb of night
The' Almighty call'd the earth;
I smil'd upon the infant world,
And grac'd the wondrous birth.

Through the vast realms of boundless space,
I traverse uncontroll'd;
And starry orbs of proudest blaze
Inscribe my name in gold.

There's not a monarch in the north
But bends the suppliant knee;
The haughty sultan waves his pow'r,
And owns superior me.

Both by the savage and the saint
My empire stands confest;
I thaw the ice on Greenland's coast,
And fire the Scythian's breast.

To me the gay aërial tribes
Their glittering plumage owe;
With all the variegated pride
That decks the feather'd bean.

The meanest reptiles of the land
My bounty too partake;
I paint the insect's trembling wing,
And gild the crested snake.

Survey the nations of the deep,
You'll there my power behold;
My pencil drew the pearly scale,
And fin bedropt with gold.

I give the virgin's lip to glow,
I claim the crimson dye;
Mine is the rose which spreads the cheek,
And mine the brilliant eye.

Then speak, my fair; for surely thou
My name canst best descry;
Who gave to thee with lavish hands
What thousands I deny.





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