Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FAMILIAR POEM FROM NISA TO FULVIA OF THE VALE, by ANN YEARSLEY First Line: Fulvia, our consul bids me thank thee: why Last Line: Should not lack piety. To fulvia health. Alternate Author Name(s): Cromartie, Ann | ||||||||
ARGUMENT NISA of the Sabine race, having been informed by Marl, a goatherd, that old Fulvia, who lived harmlessly by selling poultry, was a sybil, or witch, writes to the dame on a subject that seems to have interested her. Fearing, however, to reveal too much, she merely inquires if Fulvia can cure the mind, and artfully breaks off. Fulvia, our Consul bids me thank thee: why My thanks to thee are due, I know not. -- Dawn Had scarcely borrowed from the wakeful sun One hour of light, when hooting to our door The camel-drivers came. Their crooked horns They blew, to waken Tellus. Gentle sleep Had on our lowly pillow laid his head; His breath, sweet as the newmown herbage, flew In fragrant gales auspicious to the east. Down his fair bosom drooped his golden hair In heavy ringlets; these I softly moved, To steal one parting kiss, ere the rude horn Should from my wish abash me. Blest is he Who drives no camels! Hapless lot! Ah! when Will Ceres come, and bid the swain repose Some minutes after sunrise? The loud laugh, From men who tarried with their market-ware, Came high to shame him. He arose, unclasped Our latticed casement, breathed one soft adieu, Descended, and renewed his daily toil, Befriended by my prayer. I slept too long. My duty, soon as Tellus went, had been Fulfilled, had I arose and took my reel. Fulvia, old churlish Marl, who sometimes milks His goats beside the Tarpeian mount, that night When thunder shook the Capitol, and woods In one sad murmur hailed that scathing fire Which Jove sends down to warn us, cried aloud, 'Hey! Fulvia! midnight hag!' We marvelled much. The hind went on: 'My cabin will come down, Flat, smooth to the turf! She has already scathed My beechen bower. Ah me! what safer chance Waits my she-goat, behind the fatal rock Whence we plunge quick the guilty? -- Yes, my kids, Bad omen! both this morn mistook their dams. My chickens, too, lingered around their grain, Nor did their bills rebound. All Fulvia's work! Fulvia, sweet Nisa, mirks the blessed sun With mists, that many swear rise from the sea. Aye, aye! I know! -- Nisa, I ween mischance Will come to thee and me; yea, all who dwell Within a stone's-throw of the beldam's cell.' We chided surly Marl for this. 'Away!', He cried -- 'Dolts feel no lack of wisdom. Now, The hag is somewhere circling round her spell, Pinching our trembling blades; or, on the turf, Sprinkling her juice of aconite. Dark yews She clips, o'erhanging sacred dust; collects Night-dew; draws mimic mandrakes from their sleep; And dries the forehead of the early foal, To strew against the north wind, as it blows Directly to my cabin. I ne'er met That woman first at morning, when to the hills I hied with my young kids, but foul mischance Struck me or mine. Nisa, do thou beware, Nor meet her; or, if meeting, ne'er offend.' Art thou thus wise, dear Fulvia? Dar'st thou coop The furies in a ring? unclose their lips On the dread secrets of Tartarean realms? What! teach the sun to woo the waves on high? To shape centaurs, and gorgon-headed men, Around the horizon, whilst the shepherd strains Fancy to their wild measurement? I guess, If Phoebus, at thy bidding, dress his skies With exhalations in the evening hour, Thou wilt, when I implore, arrest the moon; When brazen in her belt she draws up woe From the deep breast t' o'erwhelm the gentle thought, And tremulate the wise and virtuous mind. Should this dread power be thine, if thou art grown A favourite with the gods, O Fulvia, try In mercy to compose the troubled soul Of one brave Roman ... Here I purposed much; Yet have I not, in this epistle, penned Great information. -- Tellus is arrived Weary and faint; his aged camel fell Near the hill-side. He looks so pensive! -- Well, I am so apt to check myself -- In haste I wrote; am grown uncheerful. When We pay our holy rites to Juno, come: Thou shalt our priestess be; all who lack wealth Should not lack piety. To Fulvia health. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CLIFTON HILL, SELECTION by ANN YEARSLEY ON MRS. MONTAGU by ANN YEARSLEY THE CAPTIVE LINNET by ANN YEARSLEY TO MR. --, AN UNLETTERED POET, ON GENIUS UNIMPROVED by ANN YEARSLEY GIRL IN A CAGE by CARL SANDBURG MARRIAGE by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE LINCOLN by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER MORAL by THOMAS HOOD |
|