Page:The Seasons - Thomson (1791).djvu/96

Farewel! Ye gleamings of departing peace,
Shine out your last! the yellow-tinging plague 1080
Internal vision taints, and in a night
Of livid gloom imagination wraps.
Ah then; instead of-love enliven'd cheeks,
Of funny features, and of ardent eyes
With flowing rapture bright, dark looks succeed, 1085
Suffus'd, and glaring with untender fire;
A cloudy aspect, and a burning cheek,
Where the whole poison'd soul, malignant, sits,
And frightens love away. Ten thousand fears
Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 1090
Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms
For which he melts in fondness, eat him up
With fervent anguish, and consuming rage.
In vain reproaches lend their idle aid,
Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 1095
Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours,
Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought,
Her first endearments, twining round the soul,
With all the witchcraft of ensnaring love.
Strait the fierce storm involves his mind anew, 1100
Flames thro' the nerves, and boils along the veins:
While anxious doubt distracts the tortur'd heart;
For even the sad assurance of his fears
Were peace to what he feels. Thus the warm youth,
Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, 1105
Thro' flowery-tempting paths, or leads a life
Of fever'd rapture, or of cruel care;
His brightest flames extinguish'd all, and all
His brightest moments running down to waste.

But happy they! the happiest of their kind! 1110
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.

'Tis