[Page 108]

The APPARITION.

1 FROM that inevitable Shore,
2 Wheer Styx's tremendous Waters roar,
3 Thus wing'd with Vengeance lo I fly,
4 And skim beneath the gloomy Sky.
5 To you O false, O faithless Fair,
6 (Yet tremble do and wildly stare)
[Page 109]
7 To you this angry Visit's paid,
8 To you once lov'd, but faithless Maid,
9 Perhaps (too thin for mortal Eyes)
10 You know me not in this Disguise;
11 I ne'er was number'd with your Foes,
12 But what I'm now, shall not disclose
13 My Name (esteem'd by one or two)
14 Was Mira while I liv'd like you,
15 Till your Unkindness cut the Twine
16 Of Life, before its stated Time.
17 And shou'd you ask to know the End
18 Of her that once you call'd a Friend?
19 Whether of Pleurisies she dy'd,
20 Or in a parching Fever dry'd?
21 Or pale Consumption sure and slow?
22 Or Apoplexy's sudden Blow?
23 'Twas none of these no common Dart,
24 That struck my unresisting Heart:
25 The dire Distemper you shall hear,
26 Then listen with attentive Ear.
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27 Did you not, Ah! did you not say,
28 That you wou'd come the next fair Day
29 To Mira's Dome? rejoic'd to see
30 At once the Butterflies and me?
31 But now, Alas! (too late, I find)
32 The promis'd Joys of human Kind,
33 Inconstant as the flitting Wind:
34 You came not That I need not tell.
35 But then, O then your Mira fell,
36 That fatal Day expecting you;
37 I swept my House, and din'd by Two,
38 Took off the Night-Cap from my Brow,
39 (O Pride!) but I repent it now:
40 (Ambitious her I lov'd to please)
41 And, Ah! too straitly lac'd my Stays;
42 Then silent sate 'twixt Hopes and Fears,
43 With beating Heart and list'ning Ears,
44 Till the shrill Clock had sounded four;
45 Then wretched Mira was no more:
46 Her Cheeks put on a death-like Hue,
47 Her Eye-balls bid this World Adieu:
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48 And tho' untouch'd by Cupid's Dart,
49 She perish'd with a broken Heart.
50 But I have done Farewel, for I
51 From this corporeal World must fly:
52 So the relentless Fates decree,
53 Once more Farewel Remember Me.

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Title (in Source Edition): The APPARITION.
Author: Mary Leapor
Themes: death
Genres: dream vision

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Leapor, Mrs. (Mary), 1722-1746. Poems upon several occasions: By Mrs. Leapor of Brackley in Northamptonshire. London: printed: and sold by J. Roberts, 1748, pp. 108-111. 15,[5],282p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T127827; Foxon p. 413; OTA K101776.000) (Page images digitized from a copy at University of California Libraries.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Mary Leapor