Written at the Request of a Gentleman to Whom a Lady Had Given a Sprig of Myrtle

What hopes - what terrors does this gift create?

Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate.

The myrtle (ensign of supreme command

Consign'd to Venus by Melissa's hand),

Not less capricious than a reigning fair,

Oft favours, oft rejects a lover's prayer.

In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain:

The myrtle crowns the happy lover's heads,

The unhappy lovers' graves the myrtle spreads.

Oh! then the meaning of thy gift impart,

And ease the throbbings of an anxious heart:

Soon must this sprig, as you shall fix its doom,

Adorn Philander's head, or grace his tomb.