[Page 314]

ELEGY.

I.
1 AH me! that restless bliss so soon should flie!
2 Still as I think my yielding maid to gain,
3 And flatt'ring hope says all my joys are nigh,
4 Officious jealousy renews my pain.
II.
5 When cold suspense and torturing despair,
6 When pausing doubt, and anxious fear's no more,
7 Some idle falshood haunts my list'ning ear,
8 And wakes my heart to all it felt before.
III.
9 One treads the mazes of the puzzled dance,
10 With easy step, and unaffected air,
11 False rapture feigns, or rolls a meaning glance,
12 To catch the open, easy-hearted fair.
[Page 315]
IV.
13 Another boasts a more substantial claim,
14 For him fair Plenty fills her golden horn,
15 A thousand flocks support his haughty flame,
16 A thousand acres crown'd with waving corn.
V.
17 But I nor tread the mazes of the dance
18 With easy step, and unaffected air,
19 Nor rapture feign, nor roll a meaning glance,
20 To catch the open, easy-hearted fair.
VI.
21 I boast not Fortune's more substantial claim,
22 For me nor Plenty fills her golden horn,
23 Nor wealthy flocks support my humble flame,
24 Nor smiling acres crown'd with waving corn.
VII.
25 Say will thy gen'rous heart for these reject
26 A tender passion, and a soul sincere?
27 For tho' with me you've little to expect,
28 Believe me, Sylvia, you have less to fear.
VIII.
29 Come, let us tread the flow'ry paths of peace,
30 'Till Fate shall seal th' irrevocable doom;
31 Then soar together to yon realms of bliss,
32 And leave our mingled ashes in the tomb.
IX.
33 Perhaps some tender sympathetic breast,
34 Who knows with Sorrow's elegance to moan,
35 May search the enamel where our relicks rest,
36 And grave our mem'ry on the faithful stone.
[Page 316]
X.
37 "Tread soft, ye lovers, o'er this hallow'd ground,
38 "Here lies fond Damon by his Sylvia's side;
39 "Their souls in life by mutual love were bound,
40 "Nor death the lasting union could divide. "

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Title (in Source Edition): ELEGY.
Author: Anonymous
Themes: grief; sadness; melancholy; death
Genres: heroic quatrain; elegy
References: DMI 27781

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 314-316. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.005) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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