 | Dione |  |
SCENE I.
Lycidas lying on the grave of Menalcas.Lycidas.
When shall these scalding fountains cease to flow?
How long will life sustain this load of woe:
Why glows the morn? roll back, thou source of light,
And feed my sorrows with eternal night.
Come, sable death! give, give the welcome stroke;
The raven calls thee from yon blasted oak.
What pious care my ghastful lid shall close?
What decent hand my frozen limbs compose?
O happy shepherd, free from anxious pains,
Who now art wandring in the sighing plains
Of blest Elysium; where in myrtle groves
Enamour'd ghosts bemoan their former loves.
Open, thou silent grave; for lo! I come
To meet Menalcas in the fragrant gloom;
There shall my bosom burn with friendship's flame,
The same our passion, and our fate the same;
There, like two nightingales on neighb'ring boughs,
Alternate strains shall mourn our frustrate vows.
But if cold death should close Parthenia's eye,
And should her beauteous form come gliding by:
Friendship would soon in jealous fear be lost,
And kindling hate pursue thy rival ghost.
| Dione | |