Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MAID, by KATHERINE MARIE CORNELIA BREGY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MAID, by                    
First Line: The whiteness of the lily once was thine
Last Line: A votive taper between us and god!
Subject(s): Joan Of Arc (1412-1431)


The whiteness of the lily once was thine,
O little maid, who watched Domremy's sheep --
Thy converse with the saints, whose words occult
Thou, like Another, in thy heart didst keep.

And thine the whiteness of the cleaving sword,
So blinding pure from out earth's blood-shedding,
When, in the gloom of Rheims' imperial shrine,
Thy lord of France was hallowed into King.

But now, more ardent whiteness wraps thee round,
O martyr-saint, rejected and betrayed. . . .
The sacrificial whiteness of the flame
Is thine -- swift-soaring, unafraid!

The smoke is ours; its shame, its blindness, too,
The tears of the way thou valiantly hast trod;
But thou, white warrior maid, on high art raised,
A votive taper between us and God!





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