His life a flower ere evening sure to fade,
His highest joys the shadow of a shade;
To thy fair court I took my weary way,
Bewail my folly, and Heaven's laws obey,
Confess my feeble mind for prayers unfit,
And to my Maker's will my soul submit:
Great empress of yon orb that rolls below,
On me the last best gift of Heaven bestow.'
He spoke a sudden cloud his senses stole, And thickening darkness swam o'er all his soul; His vital spark her earthly cell forsook, And into air her fleeting progress took.
[heard, Now from the throng a deafening sound was And all at once their various prayers preferr'd; The goddess, wearied with the noisy crowd, Thrice waved her silver wand, and spoke aloud'Our ears no more with vain petitions tire, But take unheard whate'er you first desire.' She said: each wish'd,and what he wish'd obtain'd: And wild confusion in the palace reign'd.
But Maia, now grown senseless with delight,
Cast on an emerald ring her roving sight;
And, ere she could survey the rest with care,
Wish'd on her hand the precious gem to wear.
Sudden the palace vanish'd from her sight,
And the gay fabric melted into night;
But, in its place, she view'd with weeping eyes
Huge rocks around her, and sharp cliffs arise:
She sat deserted on the naked shore,
Saw the curl'd waves, and heard the tempest roar;
Whilst on her finger shone the fatal ring,
A weak defence from hunger's pointed sting,
From sad remorse, from comfortless despair,
And all the painful family of care!
Frantic with grief her rosy cheek she tore,
And rent her locks, her darling charge no more:
But when the night his raven wing had spread,
And hung with sable every mountain's head,
Her tender limbs were numb'd with biting cold,
And round her feet the curling billows roll'd;
With trembling arms a rifted crag she grasp'd,
And the rough rock with hard embraces clasp'd.
While thus she stood, and made a piercing moan,
By chance her emerald touch'd the rugged stone;
That moment gleam'd from heaven a golden ray,
And taught the gloom to counterfeit the day:
A winged youth, for mortal eyes too fair,
Shot like a meteor through the dusky air;
His heavenly charms o'ercame her dazzled sight,
And drown'd her senses in a flood of light;
His sunny plumes, descending, he display'd;
And softly thus address'd the mournful maid—
'Say, thou, who dost yon wondrous ring possess, What cares disturb thee, or what wants oppress; To faithful ears disclose thy secret grief, And hope (so Heaven ordains) a quick relief.' The maid replied,' Ah, sacred genius! bear A hopeless damsel from this land of care; Waft me to softer climes and lovelier plains, Where nature smiles, and spring eternal reigns.' She spoke; and, swifter than the glance of thought,
To a fair isle his sleeping charge he brought.
Now morning breathed: the scented air was mild, Each meadow blossom'd, and each valley smiled; On every shrub the pearly dewdrops hung, On every branch a feather'd warbler sung;
The cheerful spring her flowery chaplets wove,
And incense-breathing gales perfumed the grovę.
The damsel rose; and, lost in glad surprise,
Cast round the gay expanse her opening eyes,
That shone with pleasure, like a starry beam,
Or moonlight sparkling on a silver stream.
She thought some nymph must haunt that lovely
scene,
Some woodland goddess, or some fairy queen;
At least she hoped in some sequester'd vale
To hear the shepherd tell his amorous tale:
Led by these flattering hopes,-from glade to glade,
From lawn to lawn, with hasty steps she stray'd;
But not a nymph by stream or fountain stood,
And not a fairy glided through the wood;
No damsel wanton'd o'er the dewy flowers,
No shepherd sung beneath the rosy bowers:
On every side she saw vast mountains rise,
That thrust their daring foreheads in the skies;
The rocks of polish'd alabaster seem'd,
And in the sun their lofty summits gleam'd.
She call'd aloud; but not a voice replied,
Save Echo babbling from the mountain's side.
By this had night o'ercast the gloomy scene,
And twinkling stars emblazed the blue serene:—
Yet on she wander'd-till, with grief oppress'd,
She fell; and, falling, smote her snowy breast:
Now, to the heavens her guilty head she rears,
And pours her bursting sorrow into tears;
Then plaintive speaks- Ah, fond mistaken maid!
How was thy mind by gilded hopes betray'd!
Why didst thou wish for bowers and flowery hills,
For smiling meadows, and for purling rills;
Since on those hills no youth or damsel roves,
No shepherd haunts the solitary groves?
Ye meads that glow with intermingled dyes,
Ye flowering palms that from yon hillocks rise,
Ye quivering brooks that softly murmur by,
Ye panting gales that on the branches die;
Ah! why has Nature through her gay domain
Display'd your beauties, yet display'd in vain?
In vain, ye flowers, you boast your vernal bloom,
And waste in barren air your fresh perfume.
Ah! leave, ye wanton birds, yon lonely spray;
Unheard you warble, and unseen you play :
Yet stay till fate has fix'd my early doom,
And strow with leaves a hapless damsel's tomb.
Some grot or grassy bank shall be my bier,
My maiden herse unwater'd with a tear.'
Thus while she mourns, o'erwhelm'd in deep despair,
She rends her silken robes and golden hair :
Her fatal ring, the cause of all her woes,
On a hard rock with maddening rage she throws;
The gem, rebounding from the stone, displays
Its verdant hue, and sheds refreshing rays:
Sudden descends the Genius of the Ring,
And drops celestial fragrance from his wing;
Then speaks, Who calls me from the realms of
Ask, and I grant; command, and I obey.' [day?
She drank his melting words with ravish'd ears,
And stopp'd the gushing current of her tears;
Then kiss'd his skirts, that like a ruby glow'd,
And said, “ O, bear me to my sireʼs abode.”
Straight o'er her eyes a shady veil arose,
And all her soul was lull'd in still repose.
By this, with flowers the rosy-finger'd dawn Had spread each dewy hill and verdurous lawn ;— She waked; and saw a new built tomb, that stood In the dark bosom of a solemn wood, [vade, While these sad sounds her trembling ears in'Beneath yon marble sleeps thy father's shade.' She sigh'd, she wept, she struck her pensive breast, And bade his urn in peaceful slumber rest.
And now, in silence, o'er the gloomy land, She saw advance a slowly winding band; [hue Their cheeks were veil'd, their robes of mournful Flow'd o'er the lawn, and swept the pearly dew; O'er the fresh turf they sprinkled sweet perfume, And strow'd with flowers the venerable tomb. A graceful matron walk'd before the train, And tuned in notes of woe the funeral strain: When from her face her silken veil she drew, The watchful maid her aged mother knew. O'erpower'd with bursting joy, she runs to meet The mourning dame, and falls before her feet.
The matron with surprise her daughter rears, Hangs on her neck, and mingles tears with tears. Now o'er the tomb their hallow'd rites they pay, And form with lamps an artificial day: Ere long the damsel reach'd her native vale, And told, with joyful heart, her moral tale; Resign'd to Heaven, and lost to all beside, She lived contented, and contented died.
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