University of Virginia Library

A PICTURE.

(From the German of the Queen of Roumania.)

Sits upon the splintered summit
Swathed in tempest, by a black gulf,
Wondrous beautiful, a Woman—
Large and strong her body's lines are
As she leans upon the rock
At the crag's edge lightly swaying:
One knee rests across the other
Balanced, and, with fingers clenched,
In her hand she grasps a serpent,
Careless how the monstrous creature
Twines and coils, and shoots its fork forth
Helpless that white grip to loosen,
Helpless to escape her fingers.
Red her hair is; like to flame-tongues
Stream amid the storm its tresses,
Float into the clouds and capture
The chain-lightning as it falls,
Drawing through its skeins those flashes
Which glide harmless down her body,
But, beneath her, split a pine-tree
From its topmost bough to foot.
And the eyes of that wild woman,
In the light which flickers purple
Round and round the summit, glitter
Green beneath great brows of black.