XXVII.
THE “BELVIDERA” OF FANNY KEMBLE.
1
I oft had dream'd of mighty agonies,
Rending the heart with tempests of the mind;
Painting bare death upon the cheek, and filling
With some few tears of fire the maniae eyes:
Till such imaginations, fiercely thrilling
The electric soul within me, had entwined
Their shadows in one form—dark elements combined!
2
But vague and indistinct the gather'd vision:
Medea, in her babes' blood all disguised;
Cassandra, uttering the wild woes of Troy;
Or Dido, wailing in that dire transition
To desolation from o'erwhelming joy;
Or Constance, throned on earth and agonized—
But now my dark dream lives, in terror realized!
