Page:The Poetical Works of Elijah Fenton (1779).djvu/159

Which cures old age, and makes the shrivell'd cheek
Blushy as Bacchus, and as Hebe sleek;
Strength to the nerves the nectar'd sweets supply,
And eagle-radiance to the faded eye:
Nor sharp disease, nor want, nor age, have pow'r 135
T' invade that vigour, and that bloom deflow'r.
Th' effect I found; for, when return'd to land,
Some drops I sprinkled on my sun-burnt hand;
Where'er they fell, surprising to the sight,
The freckled brown imbib'd a milky white: 140
So look the panther's varied sides, and so
The pheasant's wing, bedropp'd with flakes of snow.
I wet the whole, the same celestial hue
Tinctur'd the whole, meander'd o'er with blue.
Struck with amazement here, I pause a space; 145
Next with the liquid sweets anoint my face;
My neck and hoary locks I then bedew,
And in the waves my changing visage view:
Straight with my charms the wat'ry mirror glows,
Those fatal charms that ruin'd your repose! 150
Still doubting, up I start, and fear to find
Some young Adonis gazing o'er behind.
My waist, and all my limbs, I last besmear'd,
And soon a glossy youth o'er all appear'd.
Long wrapt in silent wonder, on the strand 155
I like a statue of Apollo stand:
Like his, with oval grace my front is spread;
Like his, my lips and cheeks are rosy red;