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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAPPHO AND PHAON: 37. FORESEES HER DEATH by MARY DARBY ROBINSON

First Line: WHEN, IN THE GLOOMY MANSION OF THE DEAD
Last Line: NOR TASTE THAT BLISS, WHICH PHAON DID NOT SHARE.

When, in the gloomy mansion of the dead,
This withering heart, this faded form shall sleep;
When these fond eyes, at length shall cease to weep,
And earth's cold lap receive this feverish head;
Envy shall turn away, a tear to shed,
And Time's obliterating pinions sweep
The spot, where poets shall their vigils keep,
To mourn and wander near my freezing bed!
Then, my pale ghost, upon the Elysian shore,
Shall smile, released from every mortal care;
While, doomed love's victim to repine no more,
My breast shall bathe in endless rapture there!
Ah! no! my restless shade would still deplore,
Nor taste that bliss, which Phaon did not share.



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