Each pregnant Oak ten thousand acorns formsProfusely scatter'd by autumnal storms;Ten thousand seeds each pregnant poppy shedsProfusely scatter'd from its waving heads;The countless Aphides, prolific tribe,With greedy trunks the honey'd sap imbibe;Swarm on each leaf with eggs or embryons big,And pendent nations tenant every twig ...—All these, increasing by successive birth,Would each o'erpeople ocean, air, and earth.So human progenies, if unrestrain'd,By climate friended, and by food sustain'd,O'er seas and soils, prolific hordes! would spreadErelong, and deluge their terraqueous bed;But war, and pestilence, disease, and dearth,Sweep the superfluous myriads from the earth...The births and deaths contend with equal strife,And every pore of Nature teems with Life;Which buds or breathes from Indus to the Poles,And Earth's vast surface kindles, as it rolls!

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