DEATH found strange beauty on that polish'd brow, And dash'd it out. There was a tint of rose On cheek and lip. He touched the veins with ice, And the rose faded. Forth from those blue eyes There spake a wishful tenderness, a doubt Whether to grieve or sleep, which innocence Alone may wear. With ruthless haste he bound The silken fringes of those curtaining lids For ever. There had been a murmuring sound, With which the babe would claim its mother's ear, Charming her even to tears. The spoiler set The seal of silence. But there beam'd a smile, So fix'd, so holy, from that cherub brow, Death gazed, and left it there. He dar'd not steal The signet-ring of Heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLAD by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY GOOD NIGHT by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A SKETCH by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI KINDNESS TO ANIMALS by JOSEPH ASHBY-STERRY BEAUTIFUL WORLD! by JOHN STUART BLACKIE A WOMAN'S SONNETS: 8 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE TRAGIC MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS: 1 by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY |