Marcian Colonna An Italian Tale with Three Dramatic Scenes and Other Poems: By Barry Cornwall [i.e. Bryan Waller Procter] |
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 | Marcian Colonna |  |
IV.
The lady ended, and Colonna kneltBefore her with outstretched arms: He felt
That she, whom in the mountains far away
His heart had loved so much, at last was his.
“Is there, oh! is there in a world like this”
(He spoke) “such joy for me? Oh! Julia,
Art thou indeed no phantom which my brain
Has conjured out of grief and desperate pain—
And shall I then from day to day behold
Thee again, and still again? Oh! speak to me,
Julia—and gently for I have grown old
In sorrow ere my time: I kneel to thee.”
—Thus with a passionate voice the lover broke
Upon her solitude, and while he spoke
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Her fear gave place to pride, and pride to love.
Quick are fond women's sights, and clear their powers,
They live in moments years, an age in hours;
Thro' every movement of the heart they run
In a brief period with a courser's speed,
And mark, decide, reject; but if indeed
They smile on us—oh! as the eternal sun
Forms and illuminates all to which this earth
(Impregnate by his glance) hath given birth,
Even so the smile of woman stamps our fates,
And consecrates the love it first creates.
| Marcian Colonna | |