Page:Hero and Leander (Musaeus) translated by Laurence Eusden (1750).djvu/21

Secret they fix'd the place, the time to meet;
(For sweetest joys, if stoll'n, are doubly sweet)
When ebbing darkness seem'd to bid adieu,
And both unwilling by constraint withdrew.
She to her tow'r fled swifter than the wind,
The careful lover wisely stay'd behind;
And mark'd the place, where all his treasure lay,
Then nimbly leap'd from shore, and cut the liquid way.
The force of love by absence lovers try;
On tardy wings the drowsie minutes fly:
The day looks dull, with all its beauties bright,
'Tis morn, 'tis noon, but still they wish for night.
At last the shades did with such silence creep,
That universal nature seem'd to sleep.
But the unpitying tyrant, Love, denies
Refreshing slumbers to Leander's eyes:
Restless he roves along the dreary shore,
While with tumultuous rage the surges roar.