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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MARCELIA; A TRAGICOMEDY. SONG by FRANCES BOOTHBY

First Line: YOU POWERFUL GODS! IF I MUST BE
Last Line: LET RAGE, DESPAIR, AND DEATH, THEN END THEIR FLAME.
Subject(s): MELANCHOLY; DEJECTION;

You powerful Gods! if I must be
An injur'd offering to Love's deity,
Grant my revenge, this plague on men,
That woman ne'er may love again.
Then I'll with joy submit unto my fate,
Which by your justice gives their empire date.

Depose that proud insulting boy,
Who most is pleas'd when he can most destroy;
O let the world no longer govern'd be
By such a blind and childish Deity!
For if you gods be in your power severe,
We shall adore you, not from love, but fear.

But if you'll his divinity maintain,
O'er men, false men, confine his torturing reign;
And when their hearts love's greatest torments prove,
Let that not pity, but our laughter move.
Thus scorn'd and lost to all their wishes aim,
Let Rage, Despair, and Death, then end their flame.



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