Lansing Central High School - Oracle Yearbook (Lansing, MI)

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If only Anna Will not read her mind. She tells her sister to erect a shrine In manner told by prophetess divine, Who knows just how the throbbing heart to still, And frees the care iilled minds of whom she will. Upon a funeral pyre there shall be placed Hz's sad mementos soon to be effaced. Anna unknowing, builds her sister's pyre And makes it ready for the funeral fire, And then Queen Dido with her hair unbound Scatters the broken grain upon the ground, And calls upon the gods with pleading cries, And seeks, herself, their blessing ere she dies- No sleep will come to Dido's weary breast, She cannot hope enjoy the longed for rest, Her waking thoughts surge through her restless brain Shall she a queen, seek suitors once again? Or shall she follow the retreating Beet, And throw herself in anguish at the Trojan's feet She now regrets the course she soon must take, And in her aching heart sad thoughts awake. Meanwhile fE'neas on the tall ship stands, All things had been prepared by willing hands. At last he slept. Then came a form he knew Who gave him Juppiter's commands to go. S lEneas hurried from his troubled sleep, And furled the sails to seek the briny deep. But, when sad Dido saw the fleet depart, Rage filled her mind and e'en consumed her heart. One last, hard curse she flings upon the air, And then in anguish tears her golden hair. She sends her nurse to bring her sister thereg Then while the nurse is absent on her quest, She mounts the funeral pyre with heaving breast, One moment, just for tears and thoughts, she stops And then upon the Well-known couch she drops. Must I die unavenged? she sadly said,

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He spoke, then quickly vanished in the air, Hilneas stood amazed, with rising hair, Then went his way the voyage to prepare. He wondered oft the best way he might go, In order that the jealous queen might know Naught of the preparations he had made, And so two parts the pious man well played. But what from loving women can be kept? She knew his secret e'er she ever slept, And feared the worst, though everything seemed well She forced iEneas, summoned straight, to tell If he had sought to slyly leave the shore To leave the land, nor see Elissa more? iEneas answered, that he could not stay, A god had summoned him, he must away. Yet Carthage should not fear the Trojan race, Or e'en be jealous of their new found place. Trojans have rights which even you must know, You cannot, should not stop them if they go. Then Dido cursed with ever rising ire And swore to follow him with fire, She prayed that on the hidden rocks he'd sink, And deep the cup of retribution drink. Then did 2Eneas feel sad feelings rise And dares not even cast on her his eyes, But quickly leaves, again to join his friends, And making ready, every moment spends. But Dido, pale and white, with trembling lips, Sends Anna with a message to his ships. She asks fEneas if he will but wait Till she is able to endure her fate. But proud Eneas scorns her every plea, And makes all ready to put out to sea. The light of day is hateful, and the sky, Dido determines that she can but die, All things she sees are with sad mem'ries frought, By death alone can her release be bought. The hated world must soon be left behind,

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Yet will I die, if mme avenge my head. Let these my flames be seen far out at sea, Let proud Eneas take bad luck, from me. Then terror stricken did her servants look, They saw her when the glistening sword she took, They saw her fall, and saw the crimson flood Burst forth, and dye her trembling hands with blood. Then loud the wail of anguish mounted high, And with loud shouts was shook the vaulted sky. Her sister heard and frenzied rushed along, And Weak with fright ran in among the throng. Was it for this, she cried, For this was built This pyre on which your ebbing blood is spilt? Did you deceive me, who your sister art, O, why should this hour tear us both apart? Would that your fate had met us both, today, This sword, this death, had taken us away? With these sad words she clasped her sister's form And strove to staunch the flowing tide, so Warm, But all in vain, her breath was failing fast, And each gasp seemed as if her very last. Then Juno, from her royal throne on high, Sent Iris, down a rainbow, from the sky, To set the struggling spirit free to go, E'er Proserpine could send the soul below, And Iris took her place at Dido's head, To cut the lock, an offering of the dead. 'This lock to Pluto will I quickly bear, She said, and with the right hand cut the hair. This done, sweet Dido's life dissolved in air. GEO. A. FIELD