Classic Poem

Soon as Aurora streakt the dewy lawn,
And crimson blushes grac'd the op'ning dawn;
Hard by the entrance of a neighb'ring wood,
The lovely, fair, complaining Phillis stood:
Her aspect wild, with loose dishev'led hair,
Her dress was careless and her bosom bare;
Her silken mantle balmy zephyrs drew,
And thus, She, Swan-like , sung her last adieu.

Farewell ye flow'ry meads, sweet russet plains,
Ye blooming virgins and ye jocund swains;
Ye hills, yedales, and you ye bloss'ming groves,
For ever conscious of your many loves,
Farewel! — O TEESE! in never-ebbing tides,
Flow on, and lave thy willow-fringed sides!
The faithless DAMON has forgot his vow,
For ever backward; ever! ever flow!

Witness ye stars, that gild the concav'd height,
And thou , th' imperial empress of the night,
How oft the perjur'd, guileful Damon swore,
By all the love you for Endymion bore,
By thundring Fove , the worlds' sole sov'reign king,
Parnassus mount, and by the Muses spring;
When e'er his vows should vanish into air,
Or fancy any but his Phillis fair;
As soon should Luna guide her brother's car,
And he (not Juno's son) preside o'er war.

Rise lovely Cynthia , to a nobler sphere,
And be the days delightful charioteer ;
Apollo , quit thy richly blazon'd throne,
And bind the warrior's saving helmet on:
He's false! forsworn! perfidious Damon's fled,
And all his vows, and all my hopes are dead!

Again farewel, ye once endearing shades ,
Ye love-wrought arbours, and ye sun-chear'd glades;
Where fragrant breezes shed their rich perfume,
Sweet as th' Arabian or Peruvian gum;
And thousand songsters from the ful-leaf'd sprays,
Sing, but deceive not, in their well-tim'd lays.

Now come, propitious to my fond request,
Indulgent death, and ease my tortur'd breast:
Pleas'd I'll attend thee to thy peaceful home,
Thou kind reliever of the wretched — come.