Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE BELOVED, by PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE BELOVED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She stood and cried, 'o you that love in vain'
Last Line: Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below!
Alternate Author Name(s): Ovid
Subject(s): Leucadia, Greece; Santa Maura


SHE stood and cried, "O you that love in vain,
Fly hence, and seek the fair Leucadian main:
There stands a rock, from whose impending steep
Apollo's fane surveys the rolling deep;
There injured lovers, leaping from above,
Their flames extinguish, and forget to love.
Deucalion once with hopeless fury burned,
In vain he loved: relentless Pyrrha scorned:
But when from hence he plunged into the main,
Deucalion scorned, and Pyrrha loved in vain.
Haste, Sappho, haste, from high Leucadia throw
Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below!





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