 | Orta-undis, and other poems |  |
53
TO ALCINA.
Cease to move me, gentle Venus,
Thou Minerva, spread between us
All thy books: That what is heinous
In her treating,
I repeating
Once for all, may then forget her.
(Banishment than hate is better.)
Thou Minerva, spread between us
All thy books: That what is heinous
In her treating,
I repeating
Once for all, may then forget her.
(Banishment than hate is better.)
How is this?—her eyes are tender,
Softly smiles she, white and slender
Are her hands!—The Furies lend her
Charms. Enchanting
Flies she panting,
To my bosom: Taken,—warmèd,
She is to an asp transformèd!
Softly smiles she, white and slender
Are her hands!—The Furies lend her
Charms. Enchanting
Flies she panting,
To my bosom: Taken,—warmèd,
She is to an asp transformèd!
54
Out upon my childish dreaming,
Out upon the cheating seeming,
That deceived me! Crafty, gleaming,
Saw I never
How for ever
In her hand a blade was holden,
Sheath whereof was silk and golden.
Out upon the cheating seeming,
That deceived me! Crafty, gleaming,
Saw I never
How for ever
In her hand a blade was holden,
Sheath whereof was silk and golden.
Well, despise me if thou choosest:
Nothing by thy hate thou losest.
Heart of mine alone refuseth
To be chided,
To be guided
Into hating where it perished.
(Better, loving, had it perished!)
Nothing by thy hate thou losest.
Heart of mine alone refuseth
To be chided,
To be guided
Into hating where it perished.
(Better, loving, had it perished!)
1846.
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