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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAPPHO AND PHAON: 18. TO PHAON by MARY DARBY ROBINSON

First Line: WHY ART THOU CHANGED? O PHAON! TELL ME WHY?
Last Line: AH! WHY IS RAPTURE SO ALLIED TO PAIN?

Why art thou changed? O Phaon! tell me why?
Love flies reproach, when passion feels decay;
Or, I would paint the raptures of that day,
When, in sweet converse, mingling sigh with sigh,
I marked the graceful languor of thine eye
As on a shady bank entranced we lay:
O! Eyes! whose beamy radiance stole away
As stars fade trembling from the burning sky!
Why art thou changed? dear source of all my woes!
Though dark my bosom's tint, through every vein
A ruby tide of purest luster flows,
Warmed by thy love, or chilled by thy disdain;
And yet no bliss this sensate being knows;
Ah! why is rapture so allied to pain?



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