This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
The Poems of Phillis Wheatley XII But thou! Temptation hence away, With all thy fatal train Nor once seduce my soul away, By thine enchanting strain. XIII Thrice happy they, whose heav'nly shield Secures their souls from harms And fell Temptation on the field Of all its pow'r disarms! Boston, May 7, 1773. - A Rebus, By I. B. - I A bird, delicious to the taste, On which an army once did feast, Sent by an hand unseen; A creature of a horned race, Which Britain's royal standards grace: A gem of vivid green; 86 The Poems of Phillis Wheatley II A town of gaiety and sport, Where beaux and beauteous nymphs resort, A gallantry doth reign; A Dardan hero fam'd of old For youth and beauty, as we're told, And by a monarch slain; III A peer of popular applause, Who doth our violated laws, And grievances proclaim. Th' initials show a vanquished town, That adds fresh glory and renown To old Britannia's fame. - An Answer to the Rebus, by the Author of These Poems - The poet asks, and Phillis can't refuse, To show th' obedience of the Infant muse. She knows the Quail of most inviting taste Fed Israel's army in the dreary waste; And what's on Britain's royal standard borne, But the tall, graceful, rampant Unicorn? 87
Transcription Notes:
----------
Reopened for Editing 2023-06-27 15:07:08
----------
Reopened for Editing 2023-06-27 13:39:51