Philomela :: :: University of Virginia Library

'Twas in the Deadness of a Gloomy Night,
My Love, more pleasant than the wish'd-for Light,
O'er all my Bed I vainly sought; for there
My Arms could grasp no more than empty Air.
Griev'd with my Loss, thro' all the Streets I rove,
And ev'ry Ear with soft Complaints I move:
Then to the Watch, impatient, thus I cry;
Tell me, O tell! Did not my Love pass by?
When lo, a Glimpse of my approaching Lord,
A Heaven of Joy did to my Soul afford:
So the dark Souls, confin'd to endless Night,
Would smile, and welcome-in, a Beam of Light.
I clasp'd him, just as meeting Lovers wou'd,
Who had the Stings of Absence understood:
I held him fast, and cent'ring in his Breast,
My ravish'd Soul found her desired Rest.

Him to my Mother's House I did convey;
Humble it was, and yet he deign'd to stay.
And now I charge you, Virgins, not to make
The least Disturbance, till my Love awake.

Bridegroom.
Glorious as Titan, from the Eastern Seas,
A Beauty comes from yon dark Wilderness:
So Sacred Incense proudly rises up
In cloudy Pillars of perfumed Smoke:
Compounded Spices of the greatest Cost
Could ne'er such Aromatic Sweetness boast.

Bride.
The Shining Courts of Princely Solomon
Were nobly crouded with a Warlike Train:
All arm'd compleatly, all expert in Fight,
To guard him from the Terrors of the Night.
A Chariot Royal to himself he had;
Its Pillars of refined Silver made:
The Seats of Gold, fair Purple Clouds above;
And, all the Bottom, softly pav'd with Love.

But lo, a Prince, than Solomon more great;
On whom vast Troops of shining Angels wait:
His Crown more bright, and fix'd, than that which shone
Upon the Nuptial Brows of Solomon.