To Love – Imitation of Sappho

Poem by Fanny De Beauharnais Collection Miscellaneous Fugitive Poems and Prose of No ConsequenceThemes LovePeriod 18th century

Love, I have lived beneath your chains:
Your arrows spent themselves on me;
I suffered, yet adored my pains;
No one was ever more yours than I.
Perfidious god! I break free;
You force me to, you willed it so:
To hold me back more fully,
Your effort would be superfluous.
Return to the abode of thunder;
Believe me, flee, renounce the earth;
I abjure you, what would you do there?
Barbarian, I shall live in peace.
In my soul, you know full well,
There remained but one single refuge:
You have destroyed it, you are nothing now.
You will regret your empire,
And my disorder & my delirium,
And my torments & my happiness.
Olympus may smile upon you….
But its Gods will not have my heart.

fanny-de-beauharnais

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