Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WRITTEN .. AUTHOR'S BATHING AT TEIGNMOUTH, FOR THE HEAD-ACHE, by JANE CAVE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WRITTEN .. AUTHOR'S BATHING AT TEIGNMOUTH, FOR THE HEAD-ACHE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whilst on the beach I stood, my courage fainted
Last Line: While I to neptune tune the grateful lyre!
Alternate Author Name(s): Winscom, Mrs.
Subject(s): Baths & Bathing; Headaches; Showers & Showering


WHILST on the beach I stood, my courage fainted,
And busy thought a thousand horrors painted!
Stranger to each, and each to me was strange,
With none a kind 'Good-morrow' could exchange;
With pensive mind, whilst tears my cheeks bedewed,
Fierce Boreas, and a nymph immerged I viewed;
Langour and pain her timid looks express,
As by the women carried in to dress.
'Ah, me!', I cried, 'to plunge into the main
Should I presume, this weak afflicted brain
Will grow deranged, and I shall die with pain!'
But some kind fair, impressed with sympathy,
Consoled my grief, and bade my sorrows flee;
Of whom, to practise what themselves had taught,
One plunged into the sea, with courage fraught;
Near thrice twice-told she dipped quite undismayed,
And then ascends to dress, nor asks for aid.
I chid my fears -- my cowardice was nipped,
And next below the wave my head was dipped:
A strange sensation -- in a second o'er,
And I quite braced, much happier than before;
When I bathe next, I'll have two dippings more.

O Neptune! should thy waves propitious prove,
And once this grievous malady remove,
Which long has baffled each physician's art,
Moved by the impulse of a grateful heart,
I'll chant thy virtues -- sue the tuneful Nine,
And mighty Jove, to lend his aid divine
To fill me with devout poetic fire,
While I to Neptune tune the grateful lyre!





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