Sonnets on the War By Alexander Smith and By the Author of "Balder" and "The Roman" [S. T. Dobell] |
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FIRE-LIGHT. |
 | Sonnets on the War |  |
10
FIRE-LIGHT.
Eve darkens on our legendary scenes;Pale Flora watching o'er the Prince forlorn,
Ruth standing like a poppy in the corn,
And Mary, fairest, saddest of the queens,
Bending in tumbled and dishevelled grief
Above melodious Rizzio, stabbed and torn.
Frail Lucy shrinking 'neath her lover's scorn,
With heart as worthless as a withered leaf,
Which o'er the waste by every wind is whirled.
Even as we talk, over a stage of gloom,
A curtain rises; calm and pale with hate,
Two foes are closing in the tug of doom.
On Fancy's stage 'twas but a mimic state,
But on that other stands or falls the World.
| Sonnets on the War | |