Page:Oriental Sketches Dramatic Sketches and Tales.pdf/136

Rh

The stainless soul that never dreamed of sin Gives the gay sparkle to her eye, the smile That plays around her roseate lip,—so pure, So careless, and so trusting; though ingrained, Cankered, and leperous sunk, immersed in guilt, The heart that knows not virtue would confess That 't was enshrin'd within her spotless breast,— Like her of old, who, poets sing, could stray Securely through the desert wilderness Amid the monsters of the wild, the fierce And untamed lion, the insatiate wolf, And ravening tiger, Veronica dwells, Unscathed by the licentious tongues of men, And more abandoned women. In a court Where foul corruption steals, dark guilt has shrunk Abashed, and dared not touch her angel name.

This honest indignation binds thee still, Still closer to my heart. Unhappy friend! Would I could spare thee this calamity;