To Trachin, fwift as Thought, the flitting Shade Through Air his momentary Journey made:
Then lays aside the steerage of his Wings,
Forfakes his proper Form, affumes the King's;
And pale as Death, defpoil'd of his Array,
Into the Queen's Apartment takes his way,
And stands before the Bed at dawn of Day:
Unmov'd his Eyes, and wet his Beard appears;
And shedding vain, but seeming real Tears;
The briny Water dropping from his Hairs;
Then staring on her with a ghastly Look
And hollow Voice, he thus the Queen bespoke.
Know'st thou not me? Not yet, unhappy Wife?
Or are my Features perish'd with my Life?
Look once again, and for thy Husband loft,
Lo all that's left of him, thy Husband's Ghost!
Thy Vows for my Return were all in vain;
The ftormy South o'ertook us in the Main;
And never shalt thou fee thy living Lord again.
Bear witness Heav'n I call'd on Thee in Death,
And while I call'd, a Billow stopp'd my Breath:
Think not that flying Fame reports my Fate;
I present, I appear, and my own Wreck relate,
Rife wretched Widow, rife, nor undeplor'd
Permit my Ghost to pass the Stygian Ford:
But rise, prepar❜d in Black, to mourn thy pe-
rish'd Lord.
Thus faid the Player-God; and adding Art
Of Voice and Gesture, so perform'd his Part,
She thought (fo like her Love the Shade appears)
ThatCeyx spake the Words,and Ceyxfhed the Tears;
She groan'd, her inward Soul with Grief oppreft,
She figh'd, the wept ; and fleeping beat her Breast:
Then stretch'd her Arms t'embrace his Body bare,
Her clasping Arms inclose but empty Air:
At this not yet awake she cry'd, O stay,
One is our Fate, and common is our Way!
So dreadful was the Dream, fo loud she spoke,
That starting fudden up, the Slumber broke:
Then caft her Eyes around in hope to view
Her vanish'd Lord, and find the Vifion true:
For now the Maids, who waited her Commands,
Ran in with lighted Tapers in their Hands.
Tir'd with the Search, not finding what the feeks,
With cruelBlows fhe pounds her blubber'dCheeks:
Then from her beaten Breast the Linnen tare, And cut the golden Caul that bound her Hair. Her Nurse demands the Cause with louder Cries, She prosecutes her Griefs, and thus replies.
No more Alcyone; fhe fuffer'd Death
With her lov'd Lord, when Ceyx loft his Breath: No Flatt'ry, no falfe Comfort, give me none, My Shipwreck❜d Ceyx is for ever gone:
I faw, I saw him manifest in view,
His Voice, his Figure, and his Gestures knew:
His Luftre loft, and ev'ry living Grace,
Yet I retain'd the Features of his Face;
[Hair,
Tho' with pale Cheeks, wet Beard, and dropping
None but my Ceyx cou'd appear fo fair:
I would have strain'd him with a ftrict Embrace, But through my Arms he flipp'd, and vanish'd from the Place:
There, ev'n just there he stood; and as she spoke, Where last the Spectre was, she cast her Look: Fain wou'd fhe hope, and gaz'd upon the Ground If any printed Footsteps might be found.
Then figh'd and faid; This I too well foreknew, And my prophetick Fear prefag'd too true: 'Twas what I beg'd, when with a bleeding Heart I took my leave, and fuffer'd Thee to part; Or I to go along, or Thou to stay,
Never, ah never to divide our way!
Happier for me, that all our Hours affign'd
Together we had liv'd ; ev'n not inDeath disjoin'd!
So had my Ceyx still been living here,
Or with my Ceyx I had perish'd there:
Now I die absent, in the vast Profound;
And Me without my Self the Seas have drown'd:
The Storms were not fo cruel; fhould I ftrive
To lengthen Life, and such a Grief survive;
But neither will I strive, nor wretched Thee
In Death forfake, but keep thee Company.
If not one common Sepulcher contains
Our Bodies, or one Urn our laft Remains,
Yet Ceyx and Alcyone fhall join,
Their Names remember'd in one common Line.
No farther Voice her mighty Grief affords,
For Sighs come rushing in betwixt her Words,
And stopp'd her Tongue; but what her Tongue
[ply'd. Soft Tears,and Groans, and dumb Complaints fup
'Twas Morning; to the Port fhe takes her way,
And ftands upon the Margin of the Sea:
That Place, that very Spot of Ground fhe fought,
Or thither by her Destiny was brought,
Where last he stood: And while the fadly faid
'Twas here he left me, lingring here delay'd
His parting Kifs; and there his Anchors weigh'd.
Thus fpeaking, while her Thoughts paft Actions
And call to mind admonish'd by the Place, [trace,
Sharp at her utmost Ken she caft her Eyes,
And fomewhat floating from afar defcries:
It seem'd a Corps adrift, to distant Sight,
But at a Distance who could judge aright?
It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew
That what before fhe but furmis'd, was true:
A Corps it was, but whofe it was, unknown,
Yet mov'd, howe'er, she made the Cafe her own:
Took the bad Omen of a Shipwreck'd Man,
As for a Stranger wept, and thus began.
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