Fragment of the Elegy on the Death of Adonis

PROM THE GREEK OF BION.

I mourn Adonis dead--loveliest Adonis--Dead, dead Adonis--and the Loves lament.Sleep no more, Venus, wrapped in purple woof--Wake violet-stoled queen, and weave the crown5Of Death,--'tis Misery calls,--for he is dead.

The lovely one lies wounded in the mountains,His white thigh struck with the white tooth; he scarceYet breathes; and Venus hangs in agony there.The dark blood wanders o'er his snowy limbs,10His eyes beneath their lids are lustreless,The rose has fled from his wan lips, and thereThat kiss is dead, which Venus gathers yet.

A deep, deep wound Adonis...A deeper Venus bears upon her heart.15See, his beloved dogs are gathering round--The Oread nymphs are weeping--AphroditeWith hair unbound is wandering through the woods,'Wildered, ungirt, unsandalled--the thorns pierceHer hastening feet and drink her sacred blood.20Bitterly screaming out, she is driven onThrough the long vales; and her Assyrian boy,Her love, her husband, calls--the purple bloodFrom his struck thigh stains her white navel now,Her bosom, and her neck before like snow.25

Alas for Cytherea--the Loves mourn--The lovely, the beloved is gone!--and nowHer sacred beauty vanishes away.For Venus whilst Adonis lived was fair--Alas! her loveliness is dead with him.30The oaks and mountains cry, Ai! ai! Adonis!The springs their waters change to tears and weep--The flowers are withered up with grief...

Ai! ai! ... Adonis is deadEcho resounds ... Adonis dead.35Who will weep not thy dreadful woe. O Venus?Soon as she saw and knew the mortal woundOf her Adonis--saw the life-blood flowFrom his fair thigh, now wasting,--wailing loudShe clasped him, and cried ... 'Stay, Adonis!40Stay, dearest one,...and mix my lips with thine--Wake yet a while, Adonis--oh, but once,That I may kiss thee now for the last time--But for as long as one short kiss may live--45Oh, let thy breath flow from thy dying soulEven to my mouth and heart, that I may suckThat...'