"She's fall'n to sleep in grief—haply been chid,
Or by rude mortal wronged. So let it prove
Meet for my purpose: 'mid these blossoms hid,
I'll gaze; and when she wakes with all that love
"And art can lend, come forth. He who would gain
A fond full heart, in love's soft surgery skilled
Should seek it when 'tis sore; allay its pain—
With balm by pity prest 'tis all his own, so healed
XXXIX.
"She may be mine a little year—ev'n fair
And sweet as now—Oh! respite! while possest
I lose the dismal sense of my despair—
But then—I will not think upon the rest.
"And wherefore grieve to cloud her little day [FN#15]
Of fleeting life?—What doom from power divine
I bear eternal! thoughts of ruth, away!
Wake pretty fly!—and—while thou mayst,—be mine.
"Tho' but an hour—so thou suppli'st thy looms
With shining silk, [FN#16] and in the cruel snare
See'st the fond bird entrapped, but for his plumes
To work thy robes, or twine amidst thy hair."
[FN#15] The ancient Hebrews had no idea of a future state.
[FN#16] I have not been able to discover whether the use of silk was known at so early a period. It is said to have been sold in Rome for its weight in gold, and was considered so luxurious an article that it was considered infamous for a man to appear drest in it. The Roman Pausanias says that it came from the country of the Seres, a people of Asiatic Scythia.
XL.
To wisper softly in her ear he bent,
But draws him back restrained: A higher power
That loved to watch o'er slumbering innocent,
Repelled his evil touch; and, from her bower