Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/319
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SAPHO to PHAON.
283
She stood and cry'd, "O you that love in vain!
"Fly hence; and seek the far Leucadian main;
"There stands a rock from whose impending steep
"Apollo's fane surveys the rolling deep;
"There injur'd lovers, leaping from above,
"Their flames extinguish, and forget to love.
"Deucalion once with hopeless fury burn'd,
"In vain he lov'd, relentless Pyrrha scorn'd;
"But when from hence he plung'd into the main,
"Deucalion scorn'd, and Pyrrha lov'd in vain.
"Haste Sapho, haste, from high Leucadia throw
"Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below!
She spoke, and vanish'd with the voice—I rise,
And silent tears fall trickling from my eyes.
I go, ye nymphs! those rocks and seas to prove;
How much I fear, but ah, how much I love!
I go, ye nymphs! where furious love inspires;
Let female fears submit to female fires.
To rocks and seas I fly from Phaon's hate,
And hope from seas and rocks a milder fate.
"Fly hence; and seek the far Leucadian main;
"There stands a rock from whose impending steep
"Apollo's fane surveys the rolling deep;
"There injur'd lovers, leaping from above,
"Their flames extinguish, and forget to love.
"Deucalion once with hopeless fury burn'd,
"In vain he lov'd, relentless Pyrrha scorn'd;
"But when from hence he plung'd into the main,
"Deucalion scorn'd, and Pyrrha lov'd in vain.
"Haste Sapho, haste, from high Leucadia throw
"Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below!
She spoke, and vanish'd with the voice—I rise,
And silent tears fall trickling from my eyes.
I go, ye nymphs! those rocks and seas to prove;
How much I fear, but ah, how much I love!
I go, ye nymphs! where furious love inspires;
Let female fears submit to female fires.
To rocks and seas I fly from Phaon's hate,
And hope from seas and rocks a milder fate.
Ye