Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/262

254 There, stretch'd forlorn, nourishing grief, he weeps Thy lot, enfeebled now by num'rous years. So perish'd I; such fate I also found; Me, neither the right-aiming arch'ress struck, Diana, with her gentle shafts, nor me Distemper slew, my limbs by slow degrees But sure, bereaving of their little life, But long regret, tender solicitude, And recollection of thy kindness past, These, my Ulysses! fatal proved to me. She said; I, ardent wish'd to clasp the shade Of my departed mother; thrice I sprang Toward her, by desire impetuous urged, And thrice she flitted from between my arms, Light as a passing shadow or a dream. Then, pierced by keener grief, in accents wing'd With filial earnestness I thus replied. My mother, why elud'st thou my attempt To clasp thee, that ev'n here, in Pluto's realm, We might to full satiety indulge Our grief, enfolded in each other's arms? Hath Proserpine, alas! only dispatch'd A shadow to me, to augment my woe? Then, instant, thus the venerable form. Ah, son! thou most afflicted of mankind! On thee, Jove's daughter, Proserpine, obtrudes No airy semblance vain; but such the state