Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/85

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And thus at last he too might prove

The pangs of unrequited love.

The God, in pity, bowed his ear

To list his sweet petitioner,

And caused Narcissus, tired and worn

With hunting, through a summer’s morn,

O’er valley, lawn, and mountain’s crown,

Hither to come and cast him down,

Consumed by thirst, beside the cool

And crystal waters of the pool

To which the spreading pine tree gave

Refreshing shade, then o’er its wave

He bent him, driven by thirst, to drink

The limpid wave that lapped its brink.

HEN stooped he low to slake his drouth

And saw his forehead, nose, and mouth,

He started back in wonderment,

For through his heart the vision sent

A thrill, to see himself so fair,

Matchless in form, of beauty rare.

Then Love knew well his way to take

Narcissus in his toils, and make

Him suffer such-like cruel woe

As he had dealt to fair Echo.

VOL. I.