"Suppose she pities, and believes me true, "Tho', if she loves, those scruples soon will fly 65 71 75 "What method can poor Strephon then propound "To cure the bleeding of his fatal wound, "If she who guided the vexatious dart "Resolves to cherish and increase the smart? "Go, youth, from these unhappy plains remove, "Leave the pursuit of unsuccessful love; "Go, and to foreign swains thy griefs relate; "Tell 'em the cruelty of frowning Fate ; "Tell 'em the noble charms of Delia's mind; "Tell 'em how fair, but tell 'em how unkind; "And when few years thou hast in sorrow spent, 80 "(For sure they cannot be of large extent) "In pray'rs for her thou lov'st resign thy breath, "And bless the minute gives thee ease and death.” Here paus'd the swain-when Delia, driving by Her bleating flock to some fresh pasture nigh, 85 91 By Love directed, did her steps convey Where Strephon, wrapp'd in silent sorrow, lay. As soon as he perceiv'd the beauteous maid, He rose to meet her, and thus, trembling, said: “When humble suppliants would the gods appease, "And in severe afflictions beg for ease, "With constant importunity they sue, "And their petitions ev'ry day renew." "Grow still more earnest as they are deny'd, "Nor one well-weigh'd expedient leave untry'd, 95 "Till Heav'n those blessings they enjoy'd before "Not only does return, but gives 'em more. "O! do not blame me, Delia, if I press "So much, and with impatience, for redress: "My pond'rous griefs no ease my soul allow, 100 "For they are next t'intolerable now : "How shall I then support 'em when they grow "To an excess, to a distracting woe ? "Since you're endow'd with a celestial mind, "Relieve like Heav'n, and, like the gods, be kind. "Did you perceive the torments I endure, 106 "Which you first caus'd, and you alone can cure, "They would your virgin soul to pity move, "And pity may at last be chang'd to love. "Some swains, I own, impose upon the fair, 110 "And lead th' incautious maid into a snare; "But let them suffer for their perjury, "And do not punish others' crimes in me. "If there's so many of our sex untrue, "Your's should more kindly use the faithful few; 115 "Tho' innocence too oft incurs the fate 120 125 "Of guilt, and clears itself sometimes too late. "Your nature is to tenderness inclin'd; "And why to me, to me alone, unkind ? "A common love, by other persons shown, "Meets with a full return, but mine has none; "Nay, scarce believ'd, tho' from deceit as free "As angels' flames can for archangels be. "A passion feign'd at no repulse is griev'd, "And values little if it ben't receiv'd; "But love sincere resents the smallest scorn, "And the unkindness does in secret mourn. "Sometimes I please myself, and think you are "Too good to make me wretched by despair; "That tenderness which in your soul is plac'd 130 "Will move you to compassion sure at last: "But when I come to take a second view "Of my own merits, I despond of you; "For what can Delia, beauteous Delia! see "To raise in her the least esteem for me? "I've nought that can encourage my address; "My Fortune's little, and my worth is less: "But if a love of the sublimest kind "Can make impression on a gen'rous mind; "If all has real value that's divine, "There cannot be a nobler flame than mine. "Perhaps you pity me; I know you must, "And my affection can no more distrust: "But what, alas! will hapless pity do? "You pity, but you may despise me too. 135 140 145 "Still I am wretched if no more you give; “The starving orphan can't on pity live ; "He must receive the food for which he cries, "Or he consumes, and, tho' much pity'd, dies. 'My torments still do with my passion grow; 150 "The more I love, the more I undergo : "But suffer me no longer to remain "Beneath the pressure of so vast a pain : "My wound requires some speedy remedy; “Delays are fatal when despair is nigh. 155 "Much I've endur'd, much more than I can tell; "Too much, indeed, for one that loves so well. "When will the end of all my sorrows be? "Can you not love? I'm sure you pity me : "But if I must new miseries sustain, 160 "And be condemn'd to more and stronger pain, "I'll not accuse you since my fate is such; "I please too little, and I love too much." "Strephon, no more," the blushing Delia said; "Excuse the conduct of a tim'rous maid : 165 "Now I'm convinc'd your love's sublime and true, "Such as I always wish'd to find in you: "Each kind expression, ev'ry tender thought, "A mighty transport in my bosom wrought; "And tho' in secret I your flame approv'd, 170 « I sigh`d and griev'd, but durst not own I lov'd: "Tho' now-O Strephon! be so kind to guess "What shame will not allow me to confess." |