 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
73
WINTERHALTER'S PORTRAITS.
How pleasantly from out their arches goldenThese faces smile on me; how kindly they
By beauteous love my loyalty embolden,
And round my heart-springs like a sun-beam play,
And with sweet voices to my spirit say,
Up! our true knight,—as in the tourneys olden,—
Stand thou for us against all evil tongues!
In truth, O Royal Children of my Queen,
My spirit vows, I will!—'twas ever seen
In this poor world that calumnies and wrongs
Afflict the highest; it hath sometimes been
A mouse may save the lion from a snare;
So, may my true devotion help to spare
From any grief these gracious looks serene.
| Three Hundred Sonnets | |