 | Judith, Esther, and other poems |  |
ELEGY.
Written after leaving the chamber where the once lovely subject lay faded and almost dying.
When youth sat smiling on that velvet cheek,
Ere yet a tear had dimmed thine azure eye,
I saw thee look as beautifully meek,
As thought portrays a minstrel of the sky,
Thy soul-refreshing form moved softly bright,
As some fair, fleecy cloud, borne by noon's breathings light.
Ere yet a tear had dimmed thine azure eye,
68
As thought portrays a minstrel of the sky,
Thy soul-refreshing form moved softly bright,
As some fair, fleecy cloud, borne by noon's breathings light.
As blooming as the infant in thine arms,
That brow unpencilled by a touch of care,
I saw thee pass the morning of thy charms,
Like sunny fruit, that ripening looks more fair.
The eye grew brighter which that form carest,
Like summer fields in swelling verdure drest.
That brow unpencilled by a touch of care,
I saw thee pass the morning of thy charms,
Like sunny fruit, that ripening looks more fair.
The eye grew brighter which that form carest,
Like summer fields in swelling verdure drest.
I saw thee—nor was yet thy summer o'er,
But—oh! a blight more cruel never fell!
Scarcely the gaze recoiling vision bore,
While thought bechilled pronounced a last farewell,
Thou pearl of purest beam, and shrank to see
Fell Death's corrosive breath consuming thee.
But—oh! a blight more cruel never fell!
Scarcely the gaze recoiling vision bore,
While thought bechilled pronounced a last farewell,
Thou pearl of purest beam, and shrank to see
Fell Death's corrosive breath consuming thee.
Pale are those lips, that like a rosy grot,
Half opening, fraught with redolence the air;
Faint is that smile, which once so sweetly sought
The rounded cheek, to hide in dimples there.
So o'er some ruined temple, sadly stray
The last, few, lingering gleams of brighter day.
Half opening, fraught with redolence the air;
Faint is that smile, which once so sweetly sought
The rounded cheek, to hide in dimples there.
So o'er some ruined temple, sadly stray
The last, few, lingering gleams of brighter day.
Soon Death will clasp thee in his ready chains,
And Friendship, hovering o'er thy cold, cold bed,
Will clip the silken spoil that still remains,
The only vestige left of all that's fled.
But dove, relentless stricken in thy nest,
Still will thine image flutter in my breast.
And Friendship, hovering o'er thy cold, cold bed,
69
The only vestige left of all that's fled.
But dove, relentless stricken in thy nest,
Still will thine image flutter in my breast.
Still lovely vapour, lost, dissolved away—
Still, constant memory, thy hues will trace
Serenely glowing in their dawning day;
And dwell, though parted, still upon that face,
Which lured the youth immersed, from Pleasure's sea,
And bade him kneel to virtue, love, and thee.
Still, constant memory, thy hues will trace
Serenely glowing in their dawning day;
And dwell, though parted, still upon that face,
Which lured the youth immersed, from Pleasure's sea,
And bade him kneel to virtue, love, and thee.
| Judith, Esther, and other poems | |