Page:Landon in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1835.pdf/55

Rh

Rh

Upon the ankle and the wrist There is a band of gold, No step by Grecian fountain kiss'd,   Was of diviner mould. In the bright girdle round her waist, Where the red rubies shine, The kandjar's* glittering hilt is placed, To mark her royal line.

Her face is like the moonlight pale, Strangely and purely fair, For never summer sun nor gale Has touched the softness there. There are no colours of the rose, Alone the lip is red; No blush disturbs the sweet repose Which o'er that cheek is shed.

And yet the large black eyes, like night, Have passion and have power; Within their sleepy depths is light, For some wild wakening hour. A world of sad and tender dreams 'Neath those long lashes sleep, A native pensiveness that seems Too still and sweet to weep.

Of such seclusion know we nought: Yet surely woman here Grows shrouded from all common thought, More delicate and dear. And love, thus made a thing apart, Must seem the more divine, When the sweet temple of the heart Is a thrice veiled shrine.


 * The kandjar is the small poniard worn by Hindoo princesses.