Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON SEEING A YOUNG LADY AT HER DEVOTIONS, by LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON First Line: She knelt, and her dark blue eye was rais'd Last Line: Like a star sinking down on the breast of the ocean. Subject(s): Prayer | ||||||||
She knelt, and her dark blue eye was rais'd, A sacred fire in its bright beam blaz'd, And it spread o'er her cold pale cheek a light So pure, so sacred, so clear and so bright, That Pariah marble, tho' glittering fair 'Neath the moon's pale beam, or the sun's broad glare, Were far less sweet, tho' more dazzlingly bright, Than that cold cheek array'd in its halo of light. Oh! I love not the dark rosy hue of the sky When the bright blush of morn mantles deeply and high, But my fond soul adores the pure author of light, The more when she looks on the broad brow of night; On myriads of stars glitt'ring far thro' the sky, Like the bright eyes of saints looking down from on high From their garden of Paradise, blooming in Heaven, On the scene sleeping sweet 'neath the calm smile of even. I love not the cheek which speaks slumber unbroken, That heart hath ne'er sigh'd o'er hope's fast fading token; That bosom ne'er throbbed with half-fearful delight When it thought on its home in the regions of light, Or trembled and wept as with fancy's dear eye It gaz'd on the beautiful gates of the sky, And the angels which watch at their portals of light, All peaceful, all sacred, all pure, and all bright: But I love that pale cheek as it bends in devotion, Like a star sinking down on the breast of the ocean. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN LISTEN, LORD: A PRAYER by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A PRAYER FOR THE FUTURE by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) DIFFERENT WAYS TO PRAY by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE PRAYER DURING A TIME MY SON IS HAVING SEIZURES by SHARON OLDS WE WHO PRAYED AND WEPT by WENDELL BERRY PRAYERS AND SAYINGS OF THE MAD FARMER by WENDELL BERRY A DREAM by LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON |
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