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"Sappho and Phaon", by Mary Robinson, [1796],

Viii. Her Passion Increases.

Why, through each aching vein, with lazy pace

Thus steals the languid fountain of my heart,

While, from its source, each wild convulsive start

Tears the scorchd roses from my burning face?

In vain, O Lesbian Vales! your charms I trace;

Vain is the poets theme, the sculptors art;

No more the Lyre its magic can impart,

Though wakd to sound, with more than mortal grace!

Go, tuneful maids, go bid my Phaon prove

That passion mocks the empty boast of fame;

Tell him no joys are sweet, but joys of love,

Melting the soul, and thrilling all the frame!

Oh! may th ecstatic thought in bosom move,

And sighs of rapture, fan the blush of shame!