Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/67

Book 9. Surpriz'd at this, her trembling Hand she heaves To rend her Hair; her Hand is fill'd with Leaves; Where late was Hair, the shooting Leaves are seen To rise, and shade her with a sudden Green. The Child Amphisus, to her Bosom prest, Perceiv'd a colder and a harder Breast, And found the Springs, that ne'er 'till then deny'd Their milky Moisture, on a sudden dry'd. I saw, unhappy, what I now relate, And stood the helpless Witness of thy Fate; Embrac'd thy Boughs, the rising Bark delay'd, There wish'd to grow, and mingle Shade with Shade. Behold Andræmon, and th' unhappy Sire Appear, and for their Dryopè enquire; A springing Tree for Dryopè they find, And print warm Kisses on the panting Rind; Prostrate, with Tears their Kindred Plant bedew, And close embrac'd, as to the Roots they grew. The Face was all that now remain'd of thee; No more a Woman, nor yet quite a Tree: Thy Branches hung with humid Pearls appear, From ev'ry Leaf distills a trickling Tear; And strait a Voice, while yet a Voice remains, Thus thro' the trembling Boughs in Sighs complains. If to the Wretched any Faith be giv'n, I swear by all th' unpitying Pow'rs of Heav'n, No wilful Crime this heavy Vengeance bred, In mutual Innocence our Lives we led. If this be false, let these new Greens decay, Let sounding Axes lop my Limbs away, And crackling Flames on all my Honours prey. Now from my branching Arms this Infant bear, Let some kind Nurse supply a Mother's Care; Yet to his Mother let him oft be led, Sport in her Shades, and in her Shades be fed; Teach