 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
142
A CANTATA.
RECITATIVE.
Young Damon left his gentle Chloe's side,Nay worse, had made another nymph his bride:
Poor Chloe, now cou'd taste no joy in life:
What eighteen years of age, and not a wife!
She sought the brook, so deep, within the bow'r,
Resolv'd to die, aye, die that very hour:
What mighty ills are caus'd by wicked man!—
Yet ere she met the wave, she thus began:
AIR.
Why did'st thou vow eternal truth,Yet bear so false a mind?
How cou'dst thou slight, ungrateful youth!
A shepherdess so kind?
143
By day, by night thy dream;
For, Damon, now I die by thee,
I plunge into the stream.
RECITATIVE.
But think not Chloe did so;—desp'rate lass!She often said what never came to pass:
It chanc'd a youth, as slighted by his fair
As Chloe by her swain, had wander'd there;
The same sad purpose urg'd his footsteps too;
Alas, what cruel things the women do!
AIR.
I
Unseen he heard the turtle moan,Soft pity made his heart her own;
To snatch the nymph from fate he ran;
'Twas wond'rous, in a dying man.
144
II
His own sad tale, to sooth her mind,He told, and rail'd at woman kind;
She rail'd at man, who broke his vow;
Oh, Cupid, what a rogue art thou!
RECITATIVE.
Yet sure, he cry'd, one nymph may still be true;But not a youth, she sigh'd,—unless 'tis you:
Soon kindred smart in mutual passion ended,
And drowning seem'd on neither side intended.
AIR.
Then hand in hand, new joys to prove,Well pleas'd, they tript away;
Resolv'd to live awhile on love,
And die another day.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |