No farther voice her mighty grief affords, For fighs come rufhing in betwixt her words, And ftopt her tongue; but what her tongue deny'd,
Soft tears, and groans, and dumb complaints fupply'd.
'Twas morning; to the port fhe takes her
And ftands upon the margin of the sea: That place, that very spot of ground she sought, Or thither by her destiny was brought, Where last he stood: and while fhe fadly faid, "Twas here he left me, lingering here delay'd His parting kifs; and there his anchors weigh'd;
Thus fpeaking, while her thoughts past actions
And call to mind, admonish'd by the place, 445
Sharp at her utmoft ken fhe caft her eyes,
And fomewhat floating from afar defcries;
It seem'd a corpse adrift, to distant sight,
But at a distance who could judge aright?
It wafted nearer yet, and then the knew
That what before the but furmis'd, was true:
A corpfe it was, but whofe it was, unknown,
Yet mov'd, howe'er, fhe made the cafe her own:
Took the bad omen of a fhipwreck'd man,
As for a ftranger wept, and thus began:
Poor wretch, on ftormy feas to lose thy life, Unhappy thou, but more thy widow'd wife! At this fhe paus'd; for now the flowing tide Had brought the body nearer to the fide: The more the looks, the more her fears in
At nearer fight; and she's herself the less:
Now driven afhore, and at her feet it lies,
She knows too much, in knowing whom the fees:
Her husband's corpfe; at this fhe loudly shrieks,
"Tis he, 'tis he, fhe cries, and tears her cheeks, 465
Her hair, her veft, and stooping to the fands,
About his neck the cast her trembling hands.
And is it thus, O dearer than
my life,
Thus, thus return'ft thou to thy longing wife!
She faid, and to the neighb'ring mole she strode,
(Rais'd there to break the incurfions of the
Headlong from hence to plunge herself she fprings,
But shoots along supported on her wings;
A bird new made about the banks fhe plies,
Not far from shore; and short excurfions tries;
Nor feeks in air her humble flight to raise, 476
Content to skim the furface of the seas;
Her bill, though flender, fends a creaking noife,
And imitates a lamentable voice:
Now lighting where the bloodlefs body lies, 480 She with a funeral note renews her cries.
At all her stretch her little wings the fpread,
And with her feather'd arms embrac'd the dead:
Then flickering to his pallid lips, the ftrove
To print a kifs, the laft effay of love:
Whether the vital touch reviv'd the dead,
Or that the moving waters rais'd his head
To meet the kiss, the vulgar doubt alone;
For fure a prefent miracle was shown.
The gods their shapes to winter-birds translate,
But both obnoxious to their former fate.
Their conjugal affection ftill is ty'd,
And still the mournful race is multiply'd ; They bill, they tread; Alcyone comprefs'd Seven days fits brooding on her floating neft: A wintry queen: her fire at length is kind, Calms every ftorm, and hushes every wind: Prepares his empire for his daughter's eafe, And for his hatching nephews fmooths the feas.
TRANSFORMED INTO A CORMORANT.
FROM THE ELEVENTH BOOK OF
THESE fome old man fees wanton in the air,
And praises the unhappy conftant pair.
Then to his friend the long-neck'd cormorant
fhows,
The former tale reviving others' woes:
That fable bird, he cries, which cuts the flood
With flender legs, was once of royal blood; 6
His ancestors from mighty Tros proceed,
The brave Laomedon, and Ganymede,
(Whose beauty tempted Jove to steal the boy)
And Priam, haplefs prince! who fell with Troy:
Himfelf was Hector's brother, and had fate 11
But given this hopeful youth a longer date,
Perhaps had rival'd warlike Hector's worth,
Though on the mother's fide of meaner birth;
Fair Alyxothoé, a country maid,
Bare facus by stealth in Ida's fhade.
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