Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/279

 COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA ���141 ���As when they gave thee leave at first to gaze Upon the Charms of her unguarded Face ; When the two beauteous Sisters lowly knelt, And su'd to those, who more than Pity felt. To chear her now Statira vainly proves, And at thy Name alone she sighs, and moves. �But why these single Griefs shou'd I expose ? The World no Mirth, no War, no Bus' ness knows, But, hush'd with Sorrow stands, to favour thy Repose. 70 Ev'n I my boasted Title now resign, Not Amman's Son, nor born of Race Divine, But Mortal all, oppress'd with restless Fears, Wild with my Cares, and Womanish in Tears. Tho' Tears, before, I for lost Clytus shed, And wept more Drops, than the old Hero bled; Er'n now, methinks, I see him on the Ground, Now my dire Arms the wretched Corpse surround, Now the fled Soul I wooe, now rave upon the Wound. Yet He, for whom this mighty Grief did spring, 80 Not Alexander valu'd, but the King. Then think, how much that Passion must transcend, Which not a Subject raises but a Friend: An equal Partner in the vanquished Earth, A Brother, not impos'd upon my Birth, ' Too weak a Tye unequal Thoughts to bind, But by the gen'rous Motions of the Mind. My Love to thee for Empire was the Test, Since him, who from Mankind cou'd chuse the best, The Gods thought only fit for Monarch o'er the rest. 90 Live then, my Friend; but if that must not be, Nor Fate will with my boundless Mind agree, Affording, at one time, the World and Thee; To the most Worthy I'll that Sway resign, And in Elysium keep Hyphcestion mine. ��� �