Ceres & Proserpine
embrace;--her nymphs surround her._)
_Cer._ Welcome, dear Proserpine! Welcome to light,
To this green earth and to your Mother's arms.
You are too beautiful for Pluto's Queen;
In the dark Stygian air your blooming cheeks
Have lost their roseate tint, and your bright form
Has faded in that night unfit for thee.
_Pros._ Then I again behold thee, Mother dear:--
Again I tread the flowery plain of Enna,
And clasp thee, Arethuse, & you, my nymphs;
I have escaped from hateful Tartarus,
The abode of furies and all loathed shapes
That thronged around me, making hell more black.
Oh! I could worship thee, light giving Sun,
Who spreadest warmth and radiance o'er the world.
Look at
[Footnote: MS. Look at--the branches.]
the branches of those chesnut trees,
That wave to the soft breezes, while their stems
Are tinged with red by the sun's slanting rays. [23]
And the soft clouds that float 'twixt earth and sky.
How sweet are all these sights! There all is night!
No God like that (_pointing to the sun_)
smiles on the Elysian plains,
The air [is] windless, and all shapes are still.
_Iris._ And must I interpose in this deep joy,
And sternly cloud your hopes? Oh! answer me,
Art thou still, Proserpine, a child of light?
Or hast thou dimmed thy attributes of Heaven
By such Tartarian food as must for ever
Condemn thee to be Queen of Hell & Night?
_Pros.
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