I saw your Proserpine-- [19]

_Cer._ Arethusa, where?
Tell me! my heart beats quick, & hope and fear
Cause my weak limbs to fail me.--

_Areth._ Sit, Goddess,
Upon this mossy bank, beneath the shade
Of this tall rock, and I will tell my tale.
The day you lost your child, I left my source.
With my Alpheus I had wandered down
The sloping shore into the sunbright sea;
And at the coast we paused, watching the waves
Of our mixed waters dance into the main:--
When suddenly I heard the thundering tread
Of iron hoofed steeds trampling the ground,
And a faint shriek that made my blood run cold.
I saw the King of Hell in his black car,
And in his arms he bore your fairest child,
Fair as the moon encircled by the night,--
But that she strove, and cast her arms aloft,
And cried, "My Mother!"--When she saw me near
She would have sprung from his detested arms,
And with a tone of deepest grief, she cried,
"Oh, Arethuse!" I hastened at her call--
But Pluto when he saw that aid was nigh,
Struck furiously the green earth with his spear,
Which yawned,--and down the deep Tartarian gulph [20]
His black car rolled--the green earth closed above.