Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A LADY AT THE OPERA, by EMMA GRAY TRIGG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A LADY AT THE OPERA, by                    
First Line: In your pale hair is a coronet of diamonds
Last Line: Alive and free!
Subject(s): Diamonds; Love - Unrequited; Passion


In your pale hair is a coronet of diamonds;
Diamonds glisten in your ears and on your fingers.
Your white breast is flashing with diamonds,
And they encircle both your wrists.

But under this glistering burden of jewels
You droop wearily . . .
Sitting so still . . . so still and so cold,
Like a winter tree heavy with sleet,
Bent low by the weight of its sparkling garment.

I pray you, leave the white feather fan
Idle in your lap;
You are quite cool enough.
Do you know, lady, what a terrible thing it is
To be ice-bound?
You must know, for your eyes are dull
With looking too long on diamonds.

You seem to listen,
But you do not hear the music.
It is only a cold wind blowing over you
That sets the diamonds dancing
Like ice struck by moonlight.
Is there nothing can warm you?
Surely, once . . . long ago . . .
Oh, listen, listen keenly to the music!
Can't you feel that it is pulsing warm
With broken hearts and living souls?

O lady, I should like to see your eyes
Flame with some burning passion
That would melt away your diamonds,
And dim their frozen fire.
I want to see them melt and drip in tears
Down from your pale hair,
Your neck, your heavily-ringed hands,
Till even you,
Like the ice-bound tree released by the sun,
Shall stand once warm and human,
Rid of your jewelled isolation,
Swayed by music,
Alive and free!





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