Love

Sappho and Phaon: Sonnet IX

by Mary Robinson 1757–1800

From Sappho and Phaon (1796)

Love

Ye, who in alleys green and leafy bow'rs,
Sport, the rude children of fantastic birth ;
Where frolic nymphs, and shaggy tribes of mirth
In clam'rous revels waste the midnight hours;
Who, link'd in flaunting bands of mountain flow'rs,
Weave your wild mazes o'er the dewy earth,
Ere the fierce lord of lustre rushes forth,
And o'er the world his beamy radiance pours!
Oft has your clanking cymbal's madd'ning strain,
Loud ringing through the torch-illumin'd grove,
Lur'd my lov'd Phaon from the youthful train,
Through rugged dells, o'er craggy rocks to rove ;
Then how can she his vagrant heart detain,
Whose lyre throbs only to the touch of love ?

MLA

Robinson, Mary. “Sappho and Phaon: Sonnet IX.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/robinson_m/30/.

Chicago

Robinson, Mary. “Sappho and Phaon: Sonnet IX.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/robinson_m/30/.

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