[excerpt from Windsor Forest - Alexander Pope] ...The Muse shall sing, and what she sings shall last... It chanc'd, as eager of the chace, the maid Beyond the forest's verdant limits stray'd, [180] Pan saw and lov'd, and burning with desire Pursu'd her flight, her flight increas'd his fire. Not half so swift the trembling doves can fly, When the fierce eagle cleaves the liquid sky; Not half so swiftly the fierce eagle moves, [185] When thro' the clouds he drives the trembling doves; As from the God she flew with furious pace, Or as the God, more furious, urg'd the chace. Now fainting, sinking, pale, the nymph appears; Now close behind, his sounding steps she hears; [190] And now his shadow reach'd her as she run, His shadow lengthen'd by the setting sun; And now his shorter breath, with sultry air, Pants on her neck, and fans her parting hair... Faint, breathless, thus she pray'd, nor pray'd in vain; "Ah Cynthia! ah tho' banish'd from thy train, "Let me, O let me, to the shades repair, "My native shades there weep, and murmur there. She said, and melting as in tears she lay, In a soft, silver stream dissolv'd away. The silver stream her virgin coldness keeps, For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps; Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore, And bathes the forest where she rang'd before. In her chaste current oft' the Goddess laves, And with celestial tears augments the waves. |