[Page 66]

SONG IV.

1 WHEN gentle CELIA first I knew,
2 A breast so good, so kind, so true,
3 Reason and taste approv'd;
4 Pleas'd to indulge so pure a flame,
5 I call'd it by too soft a name,
6 And fondly thought I lov'd.
7 Till CHLORIS came, with sad surprise
8 I felt the light'ning of her eyes
9 Thro' all my senses run;
10 All glowing with resistless charms,
11 She fill'd my breast with new alarms,
12 I saw, and was undone.
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13 O CELIA! dear unhappy maid,
14 Forbear the weakness to upbraid
15 Which ought your scorn to move;
16 I know this beauty false and vain,
17 I know she triumphs in my pain,
18 Yet still I feel I love.
19 Thy gentle smiles no more can please,
20 Nor can thy softest friendship ease
21 The torments I endure;
22 Think what that wounded breast must feel
23 Which truth and kindness cannot heal,
24 Nor even thy pity cure.
25 Oft shall I curse my iron chain,
26 And wish again thy milder reign
27 With long and vain regret;
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28 All that I can, to thee I give,
29 And could I still to reason live
30 I were thy captive yet.
31 But passion's wild impetuous sea
32 Hurries me far from peace and thee;
33 'Twere vain to struggle more:
34 Thus the poor sailor slumbering lies,
35 While swelling tides around him rise,
36 And push his bark from shore.
37 In vain he spreads his helpless arms,
38 His pitying friends with fond alarms
39 In vain deplore his state;
40 Still far and farther from the coast,
41 On the high surge his bark is tost,
42 And foundering yields to fate.

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Title (in Source Edition): SONG IV.
Themes:
Genres: song

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Source edition

Barbauld, Mrs. (Anna Letitia), 1743-1825. Poems. London: printed for Joseph Johnson, 1773, pp. 66-76. vi,138p. ; 4⁰. (ESTC T236; OTA K019955.000) (Page images digitized by New York Public Library.)

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