32
FIFTH PASTORAL.
The poultry there will seem around to stand,
Waiting upon her charitable hand.
No succour meet the poultry now can find,
For they, like me, have lost their Blouzelind.
Whenever by yon barley mow I pass, 75
Before my eyes will trip the tidy lass.
I pitch'd the sheaves (oh could I do so now)
Which she in rows pil'd on the growing mow.
There ev'ry deale my heart by love was gain'd,
There the sweet kiss my courtship has explain'd. 80
Ah Blouzelind! that mow I ne'er shall see,
But thy memorial will revive in me.
Lament, ye fields, and rueful symptoms show,
Henceforth let not the smelling primrose grow;[1]
Let weeds instead of butter-flow'rs appear, 85
And meads, instead of daisies, hemlock bear;
For cowslips sweet let dandelions spread,
For Blouzelinda, blithesome maid, is dead!
Lament ye swains, and o'er her grave bemoan,
And spell ye right this verse upon her stone.[2] 90
Here Blouzelinda lies———alas, alas!
Weep shepherds,———and remember flesh is grass.
Waiting upon her charitable hand.
No succour meet the poultry now can find,
For they, like me, have lost their Blouzelind.
Whenever by yon barley mow I pass, 75
Before my eyes will trip the tidy lass.
I pitch'd the sheaves (oh could I do so now)
Which she in rows pil'd on the growing mow.
There ev'ry deale my heart by love was gain'd,
There the sweet kiss my courtship has explain'd. 80
Ah Blouzelind! that mow I ne'er shall see,
But thy memorial will revive in me.
Lament, ye fields, and rueful symptoms show,
Henceforth let not the smelling primrose grow;[1]
Let weeds instead of butter-flow'rs appear, 85
And meads, instead of daisies, hemlock bear;
For cowslips sweet let dandelions spread,
For Blouzelinda, blithesome maid, is dead!
Lament ye swains, and o'er her grave bemoan,
And spell ye right this verse upon her stone.[2] 90
Here Blouzelinda lies———alas, alas!
Weep shepherds,———and remember flesh is grass.
- ↑ {[blockref}}
Line 84. Pro molli viola, pro purpureo Narcisso
Carduus, & spinis surgit Paliurus acutis.Virg. - ↑ 90. Et tumulum facité, & tumulo superaddito Carmen.
- ↑
93.Tale tuum Carmen nobis. Divine Poeta,
Quale sopor fessis in gramine: quale per æstum
Dulcis aquæ saliente sitim restinguere rivo.
Nos tamen haec quocumque modo tibi nostra vicissim
Dicemus, Daphninque tuum tollemus ad astra.Virg. - ↑ 96. Κρἑοσοτ μελωομένω τεν ακουἐμεν ὐτ μέλτ λεἰχειν.Theoc.
Yet
