The dear delusion to renew,
I sigh'd, and sunk to sleep again.
ODE IX.—ON A DOVE.[1]
Pretty pigeon, tell me, pray,
Whither speeding, whence away?
Breathing balmy odours round,
Where thy fluttering pinions sound?
Who despatch'd thee through the air?
What commission dost thou bear?
"Anacreon, the blithe and gay,
The master dear whom I obey,
Sent me swift from yonder grove
To seek the lady of his love.
I dare not tell the name she bears,
But beauty's sweetest smile she wears:
Possess'd of every pleasing art,
She reigns supreme o'er every heart.
Fair Venus sold me to the bard,
A little hymn the fix'd reward.[2]
- ↑ To understand this ode properly, we must remember that it was a custom among the ancients, when they undertook long journeys, and were desirous of sending back any news with uncommon expedition, to take tame pigeons along with them. When they thought proper to write to their friends, they let one of these birds loose, with letters fastened to its neck: the bird, once released, would never cease its flight till it arrived at its nest and young ones. The same custom is still common among the Turks and other Eastern nations
- ↑ It is impossible not to admire the address and delicacy of
have transcribed it, in order that the reader may have the pleasure of comparing them:—
"Oh, night, more pleasing than the brightest day,
When fancy gives what absence takes away,
And dress'd in all its visionary charms,
Restored my fair deserted to my arms!
But when with day the sweet delusions fly,
And all things wake to life and joy, but I,
As if once more forsaken, I complain,
And close my eyes, to dream of you again."
