Page:Hero and Leander; a poem (IA heroleanderpoem00musa).pdf/21

 Lovely the Virgin-frame, but lovelier far Her native innocence, whose dart is wing'd With force resistless, through the roving eye It strikes into the heart; Leander feels The pow'rs combin'd of virtue, fear, and shame, Wrestling with passion; shame repells the thought By beauty rous'd—Beauty emboldens love.

Though confidence, the foe of cold reserve, Mans his aspiring bosom, his slow step Steals to the Idol-maid, his swimming eye The glance oblique scarce ventures, many a nod With more than speech seduces; Hero sees The Traytor's ambush'd arts, she sees, and smiles Conscious of charms celestial; oft her vest The blushes' sweet suffusion clos'd, but soon Fondly accordant her uplifted look Meets her Leander; transport fills his soul, While the lov'd Hero half-reluctant owns A corresponding flame; the hour he seeks Sacred to Cyprian vows, when Phœbus' rays Verge to the Main declining, and thy star, Meek Hesper, glimmers through the veil of night.