While the bright goddess with a gentle shower
Of nectar'd dews perfumed the blissful bower.
Of sight insatiate she devours his charms,
Till her soft breast rekindling ardor warms;
New joys tumultuous in her bosom roll,
And all Adonis rusheth on her soul:
Transported with each dear resembling grace,
She cries, Adonis !-sure I see thy face!
Then stoops to clasp the beauteous form, but fears
He'd wake too soon, and with a sigh forbears;
Yet, fix'd in silent rapture, stands to gaze,
Kissing each flowering bud that round her plays: Swell'd with her touch, each animated rose Expands, and strait with warmer purple glows; Where infant kisses bloom, a balmy store! Redoubling all the bliss she felt before.
FROM THE SAME.
As the young enamour'd vine
Round her elm delights to twine,
As the clasping ivy throws
Round her oak her wanton boughs,
So close, expanding all thy charms,
Fold me, my Chloris, in thy arms!
Closer, my Chloris, could it be,
Would my fond arms encircle thee.
In vain shall Nature call for sleep,
We'll Love's eternal vigils keep:
Thus, thus for ever let us lie,
Dissolving in excess of joy,
Till fate shall with a single dart
Transfix the pair it cannot part.
Thus join'd we'll fleet like Venus' doves, And seek the blest Elysian groves;
Where Spring in rosy triumph reigns
Perpetual o'er the joyous plains:
There lovers of heroic name
Revive their long-extinguish'd flame,
And o'er the fragrant vale advance
In shining pomp to form the dance,
Or sing of love and gay desire,
Responsive to the warbling lyre;
Reclining soft in blissful bowers,
Purpled sweet with springing flowers
And covered with a silken shade,
Of laurel mix'd with myrtle made:
Where flaunting in immortal bloom,
The musk-rose scents the verdant gloom :
Through which the whispering zephyrs fly,
Softer than a virgin's sigh.
"ONE little kiss, sweet maid!" I cry,
And round my neck your arms you twine; Your luscious lips of crimson dye
With rapturous haste encounter mine.
Then from my fond embrace you spring,
And snatch your balmy mouth away;
As from the wounded serpent's sting
The rustic starts in wild dismay.
Is this to grant the promis'd kiss!
Ah! no my love !---'tis but to fire
The bosom with a hope of bliss;
'Tis but to tantalize desire.
'Tis not a kiss you give, my love,
'Tis nectar stol'n from gods above;
'Tis thy soul's sweetness breathed in sighs,
That on thy lip in dew-drops lies;
"Tis every sweet that zephyr's wing
From Afric's spicy shores doth bring;
'Tis honey, such as fills that hive
Whose wealth the chemist bees derive
From thymy shrubs of purple glow,
That on Hymettus' mountain blow;
Or from those dew-bespangled flowers
That perfume Cecrops' roseate bowers.
TH' Idalian youth to pierce Neara's heart
Had bent his bow, and cull'd the fatal dart;
But when the boy, in wonder lost, survey'd
That brow, o'er which your hair luxuriant play'd;
Those cheeks, that blush'd the rose's warmest dye;
That streamy lustre of your piercing eye;
That downy bosom, seat of soft delight,
Scarce Cypria's own could boast so pure a white :--
Doubtful awhile he linger'd to decide;
At length resolved he flung the shaft aside;
Then rush'd impetuous to thy snowy arms,
And hung voluptuous o'er thy glowing charms:
There, as the youth in wanton folds was laid,
His lips o'er thine in varied kisses play'd;
With every kiss he tried a thousand wiles,
A thousand gesture, and a thousand smiles;
Your inmost breas. with Cyprian odors fill❜d
And all the myrtle's spicy scent instill'd:
Lastly, he swore by every power above,
By Venus' self, the rosy queen of love,
That thou, blest nymph, for ever shouldst remain
Exempt from anı'rous care, from am'rous pain.
What wonder then such balmy sweets should flow
In ev'ry dewy kiss thy lips bestow !
What wonder then, obdurate maid, you prove
Averse to all the tenderness of love.
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