The Virginia Gazette

POETS CORNER.

Elegy

And hovering dreams each fancy cheer
Long tedious nights I waking lie;
Good Gods! what am I doom'd to bear to
Each pleasure's with Belinda fled,
Deep sorrows rankle in my mind :
For, ah! she's number'd with the dead,
Who ne'er prov'd faithless or unkind,
No more, dear maid, I'll view thy charms,
With all a lover's fond surprise :
Death grasps thee with his wither'd arms,
And darkness dims thy radiant eyes.
O grizzly power, why lovers part?
Why from me snatch the willing maid?
Pierce with thy keenest shafts my heart,
And let me hasten to her shade,
Yes, tyrant, now I feel thy hand
Lie heavy on my panting breast.
Gladly I yield to thy command,
And gladly sink to endless rest.
Before me lies, perplexing maze!
The dreadful region yet unknown
By slow degrees my strength decays,
My spirit struggles to be gone.
Cold damps my body overspread,
And darkness swims before my eyes;
I'll soon be laid in earth, a lowly bed,
Never, ah! never more to rise.
Swain, lay me lifeless in yon tomb,
Fast by my dear Belinda's side,
Where mournful yew trees shed a gloom,
And nameless rills meandering slide.

STREPHON.