Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DEAD WOMAN, by ALFRED DE MUSSET


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DEAD WOMAN, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: Yes, she was beauteous; if the night
Last Line: In which she never read!
Subject(s): Death; Love - Loss Of; Dead, The


Yes, she was beauteous; if the Night
By Michael's chisel wrought,
A marble monument asleep,
Can beautiful be thought.

And she was good; if goodness be
Devoid of heart and cold;
If Love be shewn by alms alone;
If Charity be gold.

She thought; if words in dulcet tones,
Significant of nought,
Vague as the murmur of a stream,
Deserve the name of thought.

She prayed; if prayer it can be called,
To fix two lustrous eyes
Now, meekly downward on the earth,
Now, upward on the skies.

She smiled; if e'er the virgin bud,
With heart unclosed as yet,
Smiles to the zephyrs of the spring
That pass it—and forget.

She might have wept; if dews divine,
That soften human clay,
Could ever to her chilly breast
Have found some secret way.

She might have loved; but scorn and pride
Kept watch about her heart,
Like lamps that o'er a coffined form
Their useless radiance dart.

Now, she who only seemed to live
But had no life, is dead,
And from her hands the book has dropped
In which she never read!





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