Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A BALLET, by SIDNEY GODOLPHIN



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A BALLET, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Amarillis a late
Last Line: Revived in her heart.


AMARILLIS a late
And too loving bride,
Sad that her dear mate
Should part from her side,
And grieving to want
What only she loves,
Did follow unseen
Her friend to the groves:
And seeking her shepherd
In every shade,
First meeting his voice
Overheard what he said.

'Thou joy of my life,
First love of my youth,
Thou safest of pleasures
And fullest of truth,
Thou purest of Nymphs
And never more fair,
Breathe this way and cool me,
Thou pitying Air!
Come hither and hover
On every part,
Thou life of my sense
And joy of my heart.'

Poor Amarillis,
As soon as her fears
The words of the shepherd
Convey'd to her ears,
Her hands and her eye
To heaven doth move,
As full of her grief
As before of her love:
Believing her shepherd
Had made this fond prayer
To some rival Nymph,
And not to the Air.

She says in herself,
'Ah! too too unkind,
Whom neither thy vows
Nor my loyalty bind,
Those moods could not show thee
Such truth without art,
These deserts have taught thee
So savage a heart.
Bend hither thine arrows
If they seek a prey,
Or if you seek love
Then this is the way.'

The shepherd who heard
The leaves as she mov'd,
Makes ready a shaft
To shoot in the wood:
And sending an arrow
Not guided by sight,
Doth pierce the poor Nymph
With the too cruel flight.
She pardons, but prays him
Though never so fair,
Her place may be never
Succeeded by Air.

The shepherd confused
With his terrible fate,
The wood, and the air,
And himself he doth hate.
He swears that he wooed
But the breath of the wind,
And that Amarillis
Was then in his mind:
She hears the mistake,
He curses his dart,
She dies in her limbs,
Revived in her heart.





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