AS near a weeping spring reclin'd The beauteous ARAMINTA pin'd, And mourn'd a false ungrateful youth; While dying echoes caught the sound, And spread the soft complaints around Of broken vows and alter'd truth; An aged shepherd heard her moan, And thus in pity's kindest tone Address'd the lost despairing maid: Cease, cease unhappy fair to grieve, For sounds, tho' sweet, can ne'er relieve A breaking heart by love betray'd. Why should'st thou waste such precious showers, That fall like dew on wither'd flowers, But dying passion ne'er restor'd; In beauty's empire is no mean, And woman, either slave or queen, Is quickly scorn'd when not ador'd. Those liquid pearls from either eye, Which might an eastern empire buy, Unvalued here and fruitless fall; No art the season can renew When love was young, and DAMON true; No tears a wandering heart recall. Cease, cease to grieve, thy tears are vain, Should those fair orbs in drops of rain Vie with a weeping southern sky: For hearts o'ercome with love and grief All nature yields but one relief; Die, hapless ARAMINTA, die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 50 by GEORGE SANTAYANA HOLY SONNET: SATIRE 3. ON RELIGION by JOHN DONNE SONNET, WRITTEN IN JANUARY 1817 by JOHN KEATS HALSTED STREET CAR by CARL SANDBURG THE DRUM: THE NARRATIVE OF THE DEMON OF TEDWORTH by EDITH SITWELL ADAM'S CURSE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |