University of Virginia Library


53

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.

The sculptor in the marble found
Her hidden from the world around,
As in a donjon keep:
With gentle hand he took away
The coverlet that o'er her lay,
But left her fast asleep.
And still she slumbers; e'en as he
Who saw in far futurity
What now before us lies—
The fairest vision that the stream
Of night, subsiding, leaves agleam
Beneath the noonday skies.