Alexander Pope

Eloisa to Abelard

No, fly me! fly me! far as pole from pole;

Rise Alps between us, and whose oceans roll!

Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me,

Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee,

Thy oaths I quit, thy memory resign;

Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine.

Fair eyes, and tempting looks, which yet I view!

Long-liv'd ador'd ideas, all adieu!

O grace serene! oh virtue heav'nly fair!

Divine oblivion of low-thoughted care!

Fresh blooming Hope, gay daughter of the sky!

And faith, our early immortality!

Enter, each mild, each amicable guest;

Receive and wrap me in eternal rest!

See in her cell sad Eloisa spread,

Propt on some tomb, a neighbour of the dead!

In each low wind methinks a spirit calls,

And more than echoes talk along the walls,

Here, as I watch'd the dying lamps around,

From yonder shrine I heard a hollow sound:

'Come, sister, come I (it said, or seem'd to say,)

'Thy place is here, sad sister come away!

'Once like thyself I trembled, wept, and pray'd,

'Love's victim then, though now a sainted maid:

'But all is calm in this eternal sleep;

'Here Grief forgets to groan, and Love to weep;

'Ev'n Superstition loses ev'ry fear:

'For God, not man, absolves our frailties here.'