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Salmacis
and Hermaphroditus
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But when that beauteous face Diana
saw,
Her armes were nummed, & shee
could not draw;
Yet did she striue to shoot, but
all in vaine,
Shee bent her bow, and loos'd it
streight againe.
Then she began to chide her wanton
eye,
And fayne would shoot, but durst
not see him die.
She turnd and shot, and did of
purpose misse him,
Shee turnd againe, and did of purpose
kisse him.
Then the boy ran: for (some say)
had he stayd,
Diana had no longer bene
a mayd.
Phoebus so doted on this
rosiat face,
That he hath oft stole closely
from his place,
When he did lie by fayre Leucothoes
side,
To dally with him in the vales
of Ide:
And euer since this louely boy
did die,
Phoebus each day about the
world doth flie,
And on the earth he seekes him
all the day,
And euery night he seekes him in
the sea:
His cheeke was sanguine, and his
lip as red
As are the blushing leaues of the
Rose spred:
And I haue heard, that till this
boy was borne,
Roses grew white vpon the virgin
thorne,
Till one day walking to a pleasant
spring,
To heare how cunningly the birds
could sing,
Laying him downe vpon a flowry
bed,
The Roses blush'd and turnd themselues
to red.
The Rose that blush'd not, for
his great offence,
The gods did punish, and for impudence
They gaue this doome that was agreed
by all;
The smell of the white Rose should
be but small. |
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| © Twilight
Pictures,
September 2000. This text is freely
available for educational, non-profit uses only. Please report any
errors or suggestions to
Drew Whitehead. |
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