 | The lost pleiad ; and other poems |  |
ANACREONTIQUE.
“Humanum est errare.”
Oh! that those rose-bud lips of thine,
While hanging on my panting breast,
Would shed their nectared balm on mine,
And soothe my weary heart to rest.
My hand would steal, like heavenly Hope
To Adam from the Garden driven,
With trembling, down thy bosom's slope,
As he to enter his lost Heaven;
And grasp, on that elastic bough,
Cydonian fruit as white as snow,
And pay to thee vow after vow,
The more you chid for doing so.
And while, with sobs, thou wouldst impart
The wish of all most dear to me;
I would re-echo back thy heart,
And stronger sigh my wish to thee.
With mutual sobs—with mutual sighs—
And but one way to ease our pain—
It would be much to our surprise
If we should ever want again.
New York, April 5th, 1841.
The Ancients had an apple which came from Cydon, a town in Crete, called Cydonian, which, from its size and beautiful color, resembled a woman's breast. It was called in Greek, Κυδωνιον μηλον. Sir Philip Sidney, in speaking of his heroine in the Arcadia, says, “The apples, methought, fell down from the trees to do homage to the apples of her breast!” There is a wonderful story related of this Cretan apple and the youth Acontius, of the island of Cea, who, at the offering of the sacrifices in the Temple of Diana, fell in love with the beautiful virgin, Cydippe.
| The lost pleiad ; and other poems | |