364 CONSOLATIONS OF SOLITUDE
Full long I viewed the waves afar, Till, fain to seek my grassy bed,
I woke ! There was nor moon nor star — The sun was risen an hour o'erhead.
��A CHAT WITH THE MEDICEAN VENUS.
" Whence art thou, maiden, that, with fixbd gaze, Dreadest intruding foot ? Feel thou no fear !
One only to admire thee hither strays ;
No ruffian comes — there is no tempter near."
��" Ah, sir, full many an age a maid I stand. Nor yet grow old. I am as life in death,
And wait here at Cleomenes' command, Who gave existence, but forgot my breath.
" Deep in the solid rock my limbs were bound, Till that deliverer came to set me free ;
At last my prison cell his chisel found, And gladly I sprang forth to liberty.
" Alas, good man ! he labored many a day My glossy limbs their gracefulness to teach ;
But Pluto snatched him from this earth away, Just as my lips he would have formed for speech.
" So to thy mind mine eyes must dart my thought. Since by my tongue to express them I'm not free;
Full many an age his countenance I've sought. But all in vain. Good stranger, should you see,
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