University of Virginia Library

THE MAIDEN.

Shy, graceful-timorous, like large-eyed fawn
Just waked from dreamless sleep;
And yet, unconscious bold as urgent dawn
Self-heralded by dewy lights that peep
Into the day they bring,
From far, mysterious, supersolar spring,
She comes, fresh wonder, freshened daily
By great auroras ever breaking
Prophetic clear, flushed gayly
From deepened soul, and making
Her face an aye-renewed illumination;
Her step elastic as the light
That leaps upon relucent lake,
And firm as virtue's easy might
When great obediences its brilliance make;
So fragrant she with sweet humanity,
The gazer's sense is purged incessantly;
Her inward being so superbly full,
Shining all through her blood's carnation,
That Beauty can unstinted cull
The thousand hues
From roses, whites and blues,
Wherewith he would delight
The glad beholder's sight,
And cast reviving spell upon each eye
That strains to seize this morning mystery,
Ensteeped in life and grace and loveliness,
The elated features so divinely married
Best bloom from each to all so deftly carried,
They glow a wreath of linked tenderness,
Life's dearest gifts, warm lavish loves,
Raying about her as she moves,
So circling her with love-illumined cope,
That she, where'er she cometh, fills the air with hope.