Hesperian Fruit! and beautifully high,
Extends its Branches to the Sky;
So does my Love the Virgin’s Eyes invite:
’Tis he alone can fix their wand’ring Sight,
[Among [4]] ten thousand eminently bright.
III. Beneath this pleasing Shade
My
weaned Limbs at Ease I laid,
And
on his fragrant Boughs reclined my Head.
I
pull’d the Golden Fruit with eager haste;
Sweet
was the Fruit, and pleasing to the Taste:
With
sparkling Wine he crown’d the Bowl,
With
gentle Ecstacies he fill’d my Soul;
Joyous
we sate beneath the shady Grove,
And
o’er my Head he hung the Banners of his Love.
IV. I faint; I die! my labouring
Breast
Is
with the mighty Weight of Love opprest:
I
feel the Fire possess my Heart,
And
pain conveyed to every Part.
Thro’
all my Veins the Passion flies,
My
feeble Soul forsakes its Place,
A
trembling Faintness seals my Eyes,
And
Paleness dwells upon my Face;
Oh!
let my Love with pow’rful Odours stay
My
fainting lovesick Soul that dies away;
One
Hand beneath me let him place,
With
t’other press me in a chaste Embrace.
V. I charge you, Nymphs of Sion, as
you go
Arm’d
with the sounding Quiver and the Bow,
Whilst
thro’ the lonesome Woods you rove,
You
ne’er disturb my sleeping Love,
Be
only gentle Zephyrs there,
With
downy Wings to fan the Air;
Let
sacred Silence dwell around,
To
keep off each intruding Sound:
And
when the balmy Slumber leaves his Eyes,
May
he to Joys, unknown till then, arise.
VI. But see! he comes! with what
majestick Gate
He
onward bears his lovely State!
Now
thro’ the Lattice he appears,
With
softest Words dispels my Fears,
Arise,
my Fair-One, and receive
All
the Pleasures Love can give.
For
now the sullen Winters past,
No
more we fear the Northern Blast:
No
Storms nor threatning Clouds appear,
No
falling Rains deform the Year.
My
Love admits of no delay,
Arise,
my Fair, and come away.
VII. Already, see! the teeming Earth
Brings
forth the Flow’rs, her beauteous Birth.
The
Dews, and soft-descending Showers,
Nurse
the new-born tender Flow’rs.
Hark!
the Birds melodious sing,
And
sweetly usher in the Spring.
Close
by his Fellow sits the Dove,
And
billing whispers her his Love.
The
spreading Vines with Blossoms swell,
Diffusing
round a grateful Smell,
Arise,
my Fair-One, and receive
All
the Blessings Love can give:
For
Love admits of no delay,
Arise,
my Fair, and come away.