ON MAY MORNING JOHN MILTON [OW the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Now Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose. Hail, bounteous May, that doth inspire Mirth and youth and warm desire! Woods and groves are of thy dressing, Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. Thus we salute thee with our early song, And welcome thee, and wish thee long. SONGS From COMUS JOHN MILTON A lady, lost in a wood, has fallen in with an enchanter, Comus, who, by a spell, has fixed her in a chair from which she cannot stir. Her two brothers have come and put the enchanter to flight, but the spell still holds her. A friendly spirit appeals in her behalf to the water nymph Sabrina. SPIRIT'S SONG TO SABRINA ABRINA fair, Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, Goddess of the silver lake, Listen and save. Listen, and appear to us, In name of great Oceanus; By all the nymphs that nightly dance And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answered have; (Sabrina rises, attended by water nymphs, and sings.) By the rushy-fringed bank, Where grows the willow and the osier dank, Thick set with agate, and the azure sheen Spirit, Goddess dear, We implore thy powerful hand To undo the charmed band Of true virgin here distressed, Through the force, and through the wile, Sabrina, Shepherd, 'tis my office best Thus I sprinkle on thy breast Thrice upon thy rubied lip; Smeared with gums of glutinous heat, I touch with chaste palms moist and cold; And I must haste, ere morning hour, To wait in Amphitrite's bower. (Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat.) WHAT WONDROUS LIFE IS THIS I LEAD? From THOUGHTS IN A GARDEN ANDREW MARVELL HAT wondrous life is this I lead? WH Ripe apples drop about my head; Here at the fountain's sliding foot |