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A Song From The Italian: Limberham, Or, The Kind Keeper

John Dryden

By a dismal cypress lying,
Damon cried, all pale and dying,
Kind is death that ends my pain,
But cruel she I lov’d in vain.
The mossy fountains
Murmur my trouble,
And hollow mountains
My groans redouble:
Ev’ry nymph mourns me,
Thus while I languish;
She only scorns me,
Who caus’d my anguish.
No love returning me, but all hope denying;
By a dismal cypress lying,
Like a swan, so sung he dying:
Kind is death that ends my pain,
But cruel she I lov’d in vain.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Kind Keeper: or, Mr. Limberham | 1678
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