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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO A VIOLINIST by BERNICE LESBIA KENYON

First Line: THIS WOMAN WHO IS GENTLE TO THE LAST
Last Line: CRIES AND DEFIES HER IN HER VIOLIN.
Subject(s): VIOLINS; WOMEN;

This woman who is gentle to the last,
Whose keen and tempered passions are a web
Of finest wisdom, knew in times long past
Some tide of rapture that has had no ebb.

Some part of her waits still to be revealed
In music darkly subtle and intense,
Restrained by thought so marvelously steeled
One might not guess its desperate immanence.

This hidden thing enriches her delight,
Colours her laughter, broods in her repose,
Burns like a sorrow in her secret night,
And of its warmth and wonder, deeply glows;
But like a glorious and splendid sin
Cries and defies her in her violin.



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