 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
A CHRISTIAN MAID.
Her coral lip a sunbeam smote;
Behind her shapely head
The white veil refluent seemed to float
Like cloud in ether spread:
She looked so noble, sweet and good,
Love clapped his hands for glee,
And cried, ‘This, this is Womanhood—
The rest but female be!’
Behind her shapely head
The white veil refluent seemed to float
Like cloud in ether spread:
She looked so noble, sweet and good,
Love clapped his hands for glee,
And cried, ‘This, this is Womanhood—
The rest but female be!’
So modest yet confiding too,
So tender to bestow
On each that loving honour due
To all things, high or low,
Her soft self-reverence part had none
In consciousness or pride,
A reflex of that worship won
From her by all beside.
So tender to bestow
On each that loving honour due
To all things, high or low,
Her soft self-reverence part had none
In consciousness or pride,
A reflex of that worship won
From her by all beside.
So creaturely in all her ways,
So humbly great she seemed—
O Grecian lays, O Pagan praise,
Of such ye never dreamed!
Through sunshine on she moved as one
Innocuously possest—
Thy lot reversed, O Babylon!—
By some angelic guest.
So humbly great she seemed—
O Grecian lays, O Pagan praise,
Of such ye never dreamed!
Through sunshine on she moved as one
Innocuously possest—
Thy lot reversed, O Babylon!—
By some angelic guest.
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Buoyant as bird in leafy bower,
As calm she looked as those
Who long have worn the nuptial flower
Upon their matron brows:
Yet ten years hence, when girl and boy
May mount her lap at will,
That virgin grace, that vestal joy
Now hers will haunt her still!
As calm she looked as those
Who long have worn the nuptial flower
Upon their matron brows:
Yet ten years hence, when girl and boy
May mount her lap at will,
That virgin grace, that vestal joy
Now hers will haunt her still!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |