 | [Cleora, in] The snow flake |  |
211
CLEORA.
A fair girl fled through the forest,
Like hunted roe, to gain
A haunt where the holy stillness
Was balm to her burning brain.
Like hunted roe, to gain
A haunt where the holy stillness
Was balm to her burning brain.
In vain would the warning brooklet
Have checked her as she fled,—
Like pearly shells through the water
Her twinkling feet have sped.
Have checked her as she fled,—
Like pearly shells through the water
Her twinkling feet have sped.
She gains, like her of Dodona,
A place of cloister calm,
Where the flowers look up like worshipers
To the towering minster palm.
A place of cloister calm,
Where the flowers look up like worshipers
To the towering minster palm.
And there, in the shrine of Nature,
Her heart is opening free,
As opens a rose in the morning
When none are near to see.
Her heart is opening free,
As opens a rose in the morning
When none are near to see.
212
And there to her absent lover
Her vows she will renew,
And read in his pictured semblance
The proof that he is true.
Her vows she will renew,
And read in his pictured semblance
The proof that he is true.
And often, amid the thraldom,
The world around us throws,
Would the soul, like fair Cleora,
Escape her watching foes;
The world around us throws,
Would the soul, like fair Cleora,
Escape her watching foes;
And fly to some far-off mountain
Where trusting Faith may stand,
As the prophet of old on Pisgah,
And see the promised land.
Where trusting Faith may stand,
As the prophet of old on Pisgah,
And see the promised land.
It is in the heart's lone musing
Love's sweetest thoughts have birth;
And 'tis in the Sabbath stillness
That Heaven comes nearest Earth.
Love's sweetest thoughts have birth;
And 'tis in the Sabbath stillness
That Heaven comes nearest Earth.
| [Cleora, in] The snow flake | |