Page:The Triumphs of Temper.djvu/142

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114
THE TRIUMPHS


Coupling, with radiant wreaths of lambent fire,
Fair fluttering Hope, and rapturous Desire.
Unnumber'd damsels different charms display,
Pensive with bliss, or in their pleasures gay;
And the wide prospect yields one touching sight
Of tender, yet diversified delight.
But, the bright triumphs of their joy to check,
In the clear air there hangs a dusky speck;
It swells—it spreads—and rapid, as it grows,
O'er the gay scene a chilling shadow throws.
The fond Serena, who beheld its flight,
Suspect no evil from a cloud so light;
For harmless round her the thin vapours wreath,
Not hiding from her view the scene beneath;
But, ah! too soon, with pity's tender pain,
She saw its dire effect o'er all the plain:
Sudden from thence the sounds of anguish flow,
And joy's sweet carols end in shrieks of woe:
The wither'd flowers are fall'n that bloom'd so fair,
And poison all the pestilential air.