152
Translations, &c.
Like his, my limbs are shap'd; in ev'ry part
So just, they mock the sculptor's mimic art; 160
And golden curls adown my shoulders flow;
Nor wants there ought except the lyre and bow.
Restor'd to youth, triumphant I repair
To court, to captivate th' admiring fair:
My faultless form the Lesbian nymphs adore, 165
Avow their flames, weep, sigh, protest, implore.
There feel I first the penance of my sin,
All spring without, and winter all within!
From me the sense of gay desire is fled,
And all their charms are cordials to the dead: 170
Or if within my breast there chance to rise
The sweet remembrance of the genial joys,
Sudden it leaves me, like a transient gleam
That gilds the surface of a freezing stream. 174
Mean-time with various pangs my heart is torn,
Hate strives with pity, shame contends with scorn.
Confus'd with grief, I quit the court, to range
In savage wilds, and curse my penal change.
The phœnix so, restor'd with rich perfumes,
Displays the florid pride of all his plumes, 180
Then flies to live amid th' Arabian grove,
In barren solitude, a foe to love.
But in the calm recess of woods and plains
The viper Envy revell'd in my veins,
And ever when the male caress'd his bride, 185
Sighing with rage, I turn'd my eyes aside.
So just, they mock the sculptor's mimic art; 160
And golden curls adown my shoulders flow;
Nor wants there ought except the lyre and bow.
Restor'd to youth, triumphant I repair
To court, to captivate th' admiring fair:
My faultless form the Lesbian nymphs adore, 165
Avow their flames, weep, sigh, protest, implore.
There feel I first the penance of my sin,
All spring without, and winter all within!
From me the sense of gay desire is fled,
And all their charms are cordials to the dead: 170
Or if within my breast there chance to rise
The sweet remembrance of the genial joys,
Sudden it leaves me, like a transient gleam
That gilds the surface of a freezing stream. 174
Mean-time with various pangs my heart is torn,
Hate strives with pity, shame contends with scorn.
Confus'd with grief, I quit the court, to range
In savage wilds, and curse my penal change.
The phœnix so, restor'd with rich perfumes,
Displays the florid pride of all his plumes, 180
Then flies to live amid th' Arabian grove,
In barren solitude, a foe to love.
But in the calm recess of woods and plains
The viper Envy revell'd in my veins,
And ever when the male caress'd his bride, 185
Sighing with rage, I turn'd my eyes aside.
