114
THE TRIUMPHS
Coupling, with radiant wreaths of lambent fire,
Fair fluttering Hope, and rapturous Desire.
Unnumber'd damsels different charms display,
Pensive with bliss, or in their pleasures gay;
And the wide prospect yields one touching sight
Of tender, yet diversified delight.
But, the bright triumphs of their joy to check,
In the clear air there hangs a dusky speck;
It swells—it spreads—and rapid, as it grows,
O'er the gay scene a chilling shadow throws.
The fond Serena, who beheld its flight,
Suspect no evil from a cloud so light;
For harmless round her the thin vapours wreath,
Not hiding from her view the scene beneath;
But, ah! too soon, with pity's tender pain,
She saw its dire effect o'er all the plain:
Sudden from thence the sounds of anguish flow,
And joy's sweet carols end in shrieks of woe:
The wither'd flowers are fall'n that bloom'd so fair,
And poison all the pestilential air.
Fair fluttering Hope, and rapturous Desire.
Unnumber'd damsels different charms display,
Pensive with bliss, or in their pleasures gay;
And the wide prospect yields one touching sight
Of tender, yet diversified delight.
But, the bright triumphs of their joy to check,
In the clear air there hangs a dusky speck;
It swells—it spreads—and rapid, as it grows,
O'er the gay scene a chilling shadow throws.
The fond Serena, who beheld its flight,
Suspect no evil from a cloud so light;
For harmless round her the thin vapours wreath,
Not hiding from her view the scene beneath;
But, ah! too soon, with pity's tender pain,
She saw its dire effect o'er all the plain:
Sudden from thence the sounds of anguish flow,
And joy's sweet carols end in shrieks of woe:
The wither'd flowers are fall'n that bloom'd so fair,
And poison all the pestilential air.
