Sonnets and Fugitive Pieces :: :: University of Virginia Library

A lovely vision fading out of sight,
Pure waters fast a-draining, these may be
Apt semblance of a truth well known to thee,
Poor pallid maid! thou can'st not reunite
Nor blend again the colours of thy heart,—
The secret nurture of a healthy mind
Will long preserve, perchance may half impart,
The cheek's pure glow, to sorrow ne'er assigned;
But thine is cold and pale, as might beseem
A rose-bud planted in a vase of snow,
Which droops full soon, as it did surely know
Of the thin flakes collapsing round its stem;
E'en thus thy cheek has lost its vital glow,
Because there is no source of kindly warmth below!