Dramatic Scenes With Other Poems, Now First Printed. By Barry Cornwall [i.e. Bryan Waller Procter]. Illustrated |
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AFTER DEATH. |
 | Dramatic Scenes |  |
AFTER DEATH.
Tread softly by this long, close-curtained room!
Within, reposing on her stateliest bed,
Lies one embowered in the velvet gloom;
A creature,—dead:
Lately how lovely, how beloved, how young!
Around her beauteous mouth, sweet eyes, and golden hair,
(Making the fair thrice fair,)
A poet's first and tenderest verse was flung.
Now she lies ghastly pale, stone-cold, quite hid
From balmy April and the fragrant air,
Upon the dark, green, silken coverlid;
Her limbs laid out to suit the coffin's shape;
Her palms upon her breast,—
At rest!
Within, reposing on her stateliest bed,
Lies one embowered in the velvet gloom;
A creature,—dead:
Lately how lovely, how beloved, how young!
Around her beauteous mouth, sweet eyes, and golden hair,
(Making the fair thrice fair,)
A poet's first and tenderest verse was flung.
Now she lies ghastly pale, stone-cold, quite hid
From balmy April and the fragrant air,
Upon the dark, green, silken coverlid;
382
Her palms upon her breast,—
At rest!
What cries escape,—
What sounds come moaning from the chamber near?
Small voices as of children smite the ear
With pity; and grave notes of deeper grief;
And sobs, that bring relief
To hearts which else might break with too much woe,—
With thoughts of long ago,
Loss of all earthly joy, and sweet Love's overthrow!
What sounds come moaning from the chamber near?
Small voices as of children smite the ear
With pity; and grave notes of deeper grief;
And sobs, that bring relief
To hearts which else might break with too much woe,—
With thoughts of long ago,
Loss of all earthly joy, and sweet Love's overthrow!
| Dramatic Scenes | |