Comus (excerpts)
Comus (excerpts)
SONG1Sweet
Echo, sweetest nymph that liv'st unseen
-
Within thy airy shell
-
By slow Meander's margent green,
-
And in the violet-imbroider'd vale
-
Where the love-lorn nightingale
-
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:
-
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair
-
That likest thy Narcissus are?
-
O if thou have
-
Hid them in some flow'ry cave,
-
Tell me but where
-
Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere,
-
So mayst thou be translated to the skies,
-
And give resounding grace to all heav'ns harmonies.
SONG
-
Sabrina fair
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Listen where thou art sitting
-
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
-
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
-
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
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Listen for dear honour's sake,
-
Goddess of the silver lake,
-
Listen and save.
-
Listen and appear to us
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In name of great Oceanus,
-
By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
-
And Tethys' grave majestic pace;
-
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
-
And the Carpathian wizard's hook;
-
By scaly Triton's winding shell,
-
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell;
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By Leucothea's lovely hands,
-
And her son that rules the strands;
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By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,
-
And the songs of Sirens sweet;
-
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
-
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
-
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks
-
Sleeking her soft alluring locks;
-
By all the nymphs that nightly dance
-
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
-
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
-
From thy coral-pav'n bed,
-
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
-
Till thou our summons answer'd have.
-
Listen and save.
SABRINA RISES, ATTENDED BY WATER-NYMPHS, AND SINGS
-
By the rushy-fringed bank,
-
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,
-
My sliding chariot stays,
-
Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
-
Of turkis blue, and em'rald green
-
That in the channel strays,
-
Whilst from off the waters fleet
-
Thus I set my printless feet
-
O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
-
That bends not as I tread;
-
Gentle swain at thy request
-
I am here.
SONG1Sweet
Echo, sweetest nymph that liv'st unseen
-
Within thy airy shell
-
By slow Meander's margent green,
-
And in the violet-imbroider'd vale
-
Where the love-lorn nightingale
-
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:
-
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair
-
That likest thy Narcissus are?
-
O if thou have
-
Hid them in some flow'ry cave,
-
Tell me but where
-
Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere,
-
So mayst thou be translated to the skies,
-
And give resounding grace to all heav'ns harmonies.
SONG
-
Sabrina fair
-
Listen where thou art sitting
-
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
-
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
-
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
-
Listen for dear honour's sake,
-
Goddess of the silver lake,
-
Listen and save.
-
Listen and appear to us
-
In name of great Oceanus,
-
By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
-
And Tethys' grave majestic pace;
-
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
-
And the Carpathian wizard's hook;
-
By scaly Triton's winding shell,
-
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell;
-
By Leucothea's lovely hands,
-
And her son that rules the strands;
-
By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,
-
And the songs of Sirens sweet;
-
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
-
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
-
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks
-
Sleeking her soft alluring locks;
-
By all the nymphs that nightly dance
-
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
-
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
-
From thy coral-pav'n bed,
-
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
-
Till thou our summons answer'd have.
-
Listen and save.
SABRINA RISES, ATTENDED BY WATER-NYMPHS, AND SINGS
-
By the rushy-fringed bank,
-
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,
-
My sliding chariot stays,
-
Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
-
Of turkis blue, and em'rald green
-
That in the channel strays,
-
Whilst from off the waters fleet
-
Thus I set my printless feet
-
O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
-
That bends not as I tread;
-
Gentle swain at thy request
-
I am here.