To founds of heav'nly harps fhe dies away, Far other dreams my erring foul employ, Far other raptures, of unholy joy: When at the clofe of each fad, forrowing day, 225 Fancy restores what vengeance fnatch'd away, Then confcience fleeps, and leaving nature free, All my loose foul unbounded springs to thee. Oh curft, dear horrors of all-confcious night! How glowing guilt exalts the keen delight! 230 Provoking Dæmons all restraint remove; And stir within me ev'ry fource of love. I hear thee, view thee, gaze o'er all thy charms, And round thy phantom glue my clasping arms. I wake :---no more I hear, no more I view, 235 The phantom flies me, as unkind as you. I call aloud; it hears not what I say: 240 I ftretch my empty arms; it glides away. creeps, And low-brow'drocks hang nodding o'er the deeps. Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies; 245 For thee the fates, feverely kind, ordain 255 And mild as op'ning gleams of promis'd heav'n. Come, Abelard! for what haft thou to dread? The torch of Venus burns not for the dead. Nature ftands check'd; Religion difapproves ; Ev'n thou art cold---yet Eloïfa loves. Ah hopeless, lasting flames; like those that burn To light the dead, and warm th' unfruitful urn. 260 my view? What scenes appear where'er I turn 265 Thy voice I seem in ev'ry hymn to hear, 270 One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight, Priests, tapers, temples, fwim before my fight: In feas of flame my plunging foul is drown'd, 275 While Altars blaze, and Angels tremble round. While proftrate here in humble grief I lie, Kind, virtuous drops juft gath'ring in my eye, While praying, trembling, in the dust I roll, And dawning grace is op'ning on my foul: 280 Come, if thou dar'ft, all charming as thou art! Oppofe thyself to heav'n; difpute my heart; Come, with one glance of those deluding eyes Blot out each bright Idea of the skies; Take back that grace, those forrows, and those tears; 285 Take back my fruitless penitence and pray'rs; Snatch me, just mounting, from the blest abode, Affift the fiends, and tear me from my God! No, fly me, fly me, far as Pole from Pole; Rife Alps between us! and whole oceans roll! 290 Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me, Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee. Thy oaths I quit, thy memory refign ; 296 Oh Grace ferene! oh virtue heav'nly fair! Enter, each mild, each amicable guest; See in her cell fad Eloïsa spread, 300 Prompt on fome tomb, a neighbour of the dead. Thy place is here, fad fifter, come away! 310 "Once like thyself, I trembled, wept, and pray'd, "Love's victim then, tho' now a fainted maid: "But all is calm in this eternal fleep; "Here grief forgets to groan, and love to weep, "Ev'n fuperftition lofes every fear: 315 "For God, not man, abfolves our frailties here." I come, I come! prepare your roseate bow'rs, 330 It will be then no crime to gaze on me. 335 What duft we doat on, when 'tis man we love. Then too, when fate shall thy fair frame destroy, (That cause of all my guilt, and all my joy) In trance extatic may thy pangs be drown'd, Bright clouds descend, and Angels watch thee round, 340 |