Sabrina Fair
The Spirit sings:
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
Listen for dear honor’s sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen, and save!
Listen, and appear to us,
In name of great Oceanus;
By all the Nymphs that Nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
From thy coral-paven bed,
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
Till thou our summons answered have.
Listen, and save.
[Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings.]
By the rushy-fringèd bank,
Where grows the Willow and the Osier dank,
My sliding Chariot stays,
Thick set with agate, and the azure sheen
Of turkis blue, and emerald green,
That in the channel strays;
Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printless feet
O’er the Cowslip’s Velvet head,
That bends not as I tread;
Gentle swain, at thy request
I am here.
John Milton.
From “Comus.”