[Poems by Botta in] Memoirs of Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta written by her friends ::

[Poems by Botta in] Memoirs of Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta written by her friends

with selections from her correspondence and from her writings in prose and poetry

Botta, Anne C. Lynch (1815-1891)

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TO EMMA

I look within those deep, dark, lustrous eyes,
And there I read thy heart's sweet mysteries;
There, like those lakes that mirror earth and sky,
The lights and shadows of the future lie.
For thee ambition has no clarion call;
Thou 'lt seek no home in court, or princely hall,
Where folly reigns, and the world's votaries throng
To wile the hours with mirth, and dance, and song.
Nor wilt thou seek to blazon high thy name,
As woman may, upon the scroll of Fame.

451

But there 's an empire o'er which thou wouldst reign,
Yet should thy subjects wear no despot's chain.
It is the empire of the Heart. It shall be thine,
And o'er it thou shalt reign by “right divine.”

University of Virginia Library

TO EMMA