Sudden you mount, you beckon from the skies; 245
Clouds interpofe, waves roar, and winds arife.
I fhriek, ftart up, the fame fad prospect find,
And wake to all the griefs I left behind.

For thee the fates, feverely kind, ordain
A cool fufpenfe from pleasure and from pain; 250
Thy life a long dead calm of fix'd repose;
No pulfe that riots, and no blood that glows.
Still as the fea, ere winds were taught to blow,
Or moving fpirit bade the waters flow;

255

Soft as the flumbers of a faint forgiv'n,
And mild as op'ning gleams of promis'd heav'n.
Come, Abelard! for what haft thou to dread?
The torch of Venus burns not for the dead.
Nature ftands check'd; Religion difapproves;
Ev'n thou art cold --- yet Eloïfa loves.
Ah hopeless, lafting flames! like those that burn
To light the dead, and warm th' unfruitful urn.
What scenes appear, where'er I turn my view?
The dear Ideas, where I fly, pursue,

Rife in the grove, before the altar rife,
Stain all my foul, and wanton in my eyes.
I waste the Matin lamp in fighs for thee,
Thy image fteals between my God and me,

260

265

Thy voice I seem in ev'ry hymn to hear,
With ev'ry bead I drop too foft a tear.

When from the cenfer clouds of fragrance roll,
And fwelling organs lift the rifing foul,

270

One thought of thee puts all the
pomp to flight,
Priests, tapers, temples, fwim before my fight:
In feas of flame my plunging foul is drown'd, 275
While Altars blaze, and Angels tremble round.
While proftrate here in humble grief I lie,
Kind, virtuous drops juft gath'ring in my eye,
While praying, trembling, in the duft I roll,
And dawning grace is op'ning on my foul: 280
Come, if thou dar'ft, all charming as thou art!
Oppose thyself to heav'n; difpute my heart;
Come, with one glance of those deluding eyes
Blot out each bright idea of the skies;

Take back that grace, thofe forrows,and those tears;
Take back my fruitless penitence and pray'rs ;
Snatch me juft mounting, from the bleft abode;.
Affift the fiends, and tear me from my God!

No, fly me, fly me, far as Pole from Pole;

Rife Alps between us! and whole oceans roll! 290 Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me, Nor fhare one pang of all I felt for thee.

Thy oaths I quit, thy memory refign;
Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine.
Fair eyes,
Long lov'd, ador'd ideas, all adieu!

and tempting looks (which yet I view!)

O Grace ferene! oh virtue heav'nly fair!
Divine oblivion of low-thoughted care!

296

Fresh blooming Hope, gay daughter of the fky! And Faith, our early immortality!

Enter, each mild, each amicable guest;

Receive, and wrap me in eternal reft!

See in her cell fad Eloïfa fpread,

300

305

Propt on fome tomb, a neighbour of the dead,
In each low wind methinks a Spirit calls,
And more than Echoes talk along the walls.
Here, as I watch'd the dying lamps around,
From yonder fhrine I heard a hollow found.
"Come, fifter, come! (it faid, or feem'd to fay)

Thy place is here, fad fifter, come away! 310 « Once like thyfelf, I trembled, wept, and pray'd, "Love's victim then, tho' now a fainted maid: "But all is calm in this eternal sleep;

"Here grief forgets to groan, and love to weep, "Ev'n fuperftition lofes ev'ry fear :

315

"For God, not man, abfolves our frailties here."

I come, I come! prepare your rofeat how'rs, Celestial palms, and ever-blooming flow'rs. Thither, where finners may have reft, I go, Where flames refin'd in breafts feraphic glow: 320 Thou, Abelard! the last fad office

pay,

And fmooth my paffage to the realms of day;
See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll,
Suck my last breath, and catch my flying foul!
Ah no--- in facred veftments may'st thou stand,
The hallow'd taper trembling in thy hand, 326
Prefent the cross before my lifted eye,

Teach me at once, and learn of me to die.
Ah then, thy once-lov'd Eloïfa fee!

It will be then no crime to gaze on me.
See from my cheek the tranfient roses fly!
See the last sparkle languish in my eye!
Till ev'ry motion, pulfe, and breath be o'er;
And ev❜n my Abelard be lov'd no more.
O Death all-eloquent! you only prove

339

335

What duft we doat on, when 'tis man we love.
Then too, when fate shall thy fair frame destroy,
(That cause of all my guilt, and all my joy)
In trance extatic may thy pangs be drown'd,
Bright clouds defcend,and Angelswatch thee round,

From op'ning skies may ftreaming glories shine, And Saints embrace thee with a love like mine.

grave

May one kind unite each hapless name, And graft my love immortal on thy fame! Then, ages hence, when all my woes are o'er, 345 When this rebellious heart fhall beat no more; If ever chance two wand'ring lovers brings To Paraclete's white walls and filver fprings, O'er the pale marble fhall they join their heads, And drink the falling tears each other sheds; 350 Then fadly fay, with mutual pity mov'd, "Oh may we never love as these have lov'd!" From the full choir, when loud Hofannas rife, And fwell the pomp of dreadful facrifice, Amid that scene if fome relenting eye

Glance on the stone where our cold relics lie,

1

355

Devotion's self shall steal a thought from heav'n;
One human tear fhall drop, and be forgiv'n.

And fure if fate fome future bard shall join
In fad fimilitude of griefs to mine,

NOTES.

360

VER. 343. May one kind grave, etc.] Abelard and Eloïfa were interred in the fame grave, or in monuments adjoining, in the Monastery of the Paraclete: he died in the year 1142, fhe in 1163. P.