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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAPPHO AND PHAON: 16. SAPPHO REJECTS HOPE by MARY DARBY ROBINSON

First Line: DELUSIVE HOPE! MORE TRANSIENT THAN THE RAY
Last Line: AND FEED MY SOUL, WITH LUXURY OF WOE!

Delusive Hope! more transient than the ray
That leads pale twilight to her dusky bed,
O'er woodland glen, or breezy mountain's head,
Lingering to catch the parting sigh of day.
Hence with thy visionary charms, away!
Nor o'er my path the flowers of fancy spread;
Thy airy dreams on peaceful pillows shed,
And weave for thoughtless brows, a garland gay.
Farewell low valleys; dizzy cliffs, farewell!
Small vagrant rills that murmur as ye flow:
Dark bosomed labyrinth and thorny dell;
The task be mine all pleasures to forego;
To hide, where meditation loves to dwell,
And feed my soul, with luxury of woe!



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