AMYNTAS.
49
Of smiles, and innocence he slyly plays
Destruction on the unwary, fond admirer.
I burn with love; it tingles through my frame;
The unrelenting deity hath emptied
His quiver on me, from fair Sylvia's eyes.
Oh cruel Love! yet still more cruel Sylvia!
A tongue oracular gave thee thy name;
For thou art truly sylvan: nay, the woods
Harbour not such a fell, remorseless brood
As thy inhuman bosom nourisheth.
The woods afford, under their verdant foliage,
Shelter to snakes, to lions, and to bears:
Thy snowy breast, whose mild, luxurious view
Invites to rapturous joy, and balmy peace,
Perfidiously conceals disdain, and hatred,
And hard inflexibility; those monsters,
More savage far than snakes, or bears, or lions.
These may be tamed by art, and blandishment;
But those we cannot win by gift, or prayer.
When I for thee, my amorous soul absorbed
In thy idea, cull the choicest flowers;
Destruction on the unwary, fond admirer.
I burn with love; it tingles through my frame;
The unrelenting deity hath emptied
His quiver on me, from fair Sylvia's eyes.
Oh cruel Love! yet still more cruel Sylvia!
A tongue oracular gave thee thy name;
For thou art truly sylvan: nay, the woods
Harbour not such a fell, remorseless brood
As thy inhuman bosom nourisheth.
The woods afford, under their verdant foliage,
Shelter to snakes, to lions, and to bears:
Thy snowy breast, whose mild, luxurious view
Invites to rapturous joy, and balmy peace,
Perfidiously conceals disdain, and hatred,
And hard inflexibility; those monsters,
More savage far than snakes, or bears, or lions.
These may be tamed by art, and blandishment;
But those we cannot win by gift, or prayer.
When I for thee, my amorous soul absorbed
In thy idea, cull the choicest flowers;
And
