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THE TRIUMPHS


So spoke the sire; for, to her votary kind,
Sophrosyne inspir'd his soften'd mind.
Speaking, he smil'd, to see that on his word
The lover hung, and blest the sounds he heard;
That his embarrass'd child his sentence caught
With each tumultuous sign of tender thought;
Whose blushes, springing from the heart, declare
The dawn of fondness in the modest fair.
Th' enchanted youth with ecstasy convey'd
Forth from the troubled feast the trembling maid.
As the keen sailor, whom his daring soul
Has drawn, too vent'rous, near the freezing pole;
Who, having slighted Caution's tame advice,
Seems wedg'd within impervious worlds of ice:
If, from each chilling form of peril free,
At length he reach the unincumber'd sea,
With joy superior to his transient pain,
Rushes, exulting, o'er th' expansive main:
Such strong delight Serena's bosom shar'd,
When sweet reflection to her heart declar'd,