Soon doom’d herself a ruthless foe to find,

When in Actinia’s arms she lies entwined.

Here, prison’d by the vase’s crystal bound,

Impassable as Styx’s nine-fold round,

Quick she projects, as quick retracts again,

Her flexile toils, and tries her arts in vain;

Till languid grown, her fine machinery worn

By rapid friction, and her fringes torn,

Her full round orb wanes lank, and swift decay

Pervades her frame, till all dissolves away.