I kifs that earth which once was prefs'd by you, And birds defer their fongs till thy return: 180 A fpring there is, whofe filver waters fhow, Clear as a glass, the fhining fands below: A flow'ry Lotos fpreads its arms above, Shades all the banks, and feems itself a grové; Eternal greens the moffy margin grace, Watch'd by the fylvan Genius of the place. Here as I lay, and fwell'd with tears the flood, 18 Before my fight a war'ry Virgin stood: She stood and cry'd, "O you that love in vain! "Fly hence, and feek the fair Leucadian main; "There stands a rock, from whofe impending steep "Apollo's fane furveys the rolling deep; "There injur'd lovers leaping from above, "Their flames extinguish, and forget to love. "Deucalion once with hopeless fury burn'd, "In vain he lov'd, relentless Pyrrha fcorn'd: "But when from hence he plung'd into the main, "Deucalion fcorn'd, and Pyrrha lov'd in vain. "Hanc legem locus ille tenet, pete protinus altam Ut monuit; cum voce abiit. Ego frigida furgo: 200 Quicquid erit, melius quam nunc erit: aura fubito. Et forma et meritis tu mihi Phoebus eris. Si moriar, titulum mortis habere meae ? 220 200 205 "Hafte, Sappho, hafte, from high Leucadia throw Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below! She fpoke, and vanish'd with the voice- I rife, And filent tears fall trickling from my eyes. I go, ye Nymphs! thofe rocks and feas to prove. How much I fear, but ah, how much I love! I go, ye Nymphs, where furious love infpires; Let female fears fubmit to female fires. To rocks and feas I fly from Phaon's hate, And hope from feas and rocks a milder fate. Ye gentle gales, beneath my body blow, And foftly lay me on the waves below! And thou, kind Love, my finking limbs fuftain, Spread thy foft wings, and waft me o'er the main, Nor let a Lover's death the guiltless flood profane ! On Phoebus' fhrine my harp I'll then beftow, And this Infcription shall be plac'd below. "Here she who fung, to him that did inspire, "Sappho to Phœbus confecrates her Lyre; "What suits with Sappho, Phoebus, fuits with thee; "The gift, the giver, and the God agree.” But why, alas, relentless youth, ah why To distant seas must tender Sappho fly ? Thy charms than those may far more pow'rful be, And Phoebus' felf is lefs a God to me. " Ah! can't thou doom me to the rocks and fea, 221 215 At quanto melius jungi mea pectora tecum, Haec funt illa, Phaon, quae tu laudare solebas ; Vifaque funt toties ingeniosa tibi. Nunc vellem facunda forent: dolor artibus obftat ; Ingeniumque meis fubftitit omne malis. Non mihi refpondent veteres in carmina vires. Lefbides, infamem quae me feciftis amatae ; 225 230 Abftulit omne Phaon, quod vobis ante placebat. 235 An riget? et Zephyri verba caduca ferunt ? Sive redis, puppique tuae votiva parantur 240 230 236 Ah! canft thou rather fee this tender breaft you return - If 240 245 |