Page:Andromeda, and other poems - Kingsley (1858).djvu/22

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ANDROMEDA.
 Thrice they spat as they went by the maid: but her mother delayingFondled her child to the last, heart-crushed; and the warmth of her weeping 90Fell on the breast of the maid, as her woe broke forth into wailing. 'Daughter! my daughter! forgive me! O curse not the murderess! Cursenot!How have I sinned, but in love? Do the gods grudge glory to mothers?Loving I bore thee in vain in the fate-cursed bride-bed of Cepheus,Loving I fed thee and tended, and loving rejoiced in thy beauty,Blessing thy limbs as I bathed them, and blessing thy locks as I combed them;Decking thee, ripening to woman, I blest thee: yet blessing I slew thee!How have I sinned, but in love? Oh swear to me, swear to thy mother,
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