Page:Records of Woman.pdf/41

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And her veil flung back, and her free dark hair Sway'd by the flames as they rock and flare, And her fragile form to its loftiest height Dilated, as if by the spirit's might, And her eye with an eagle-gladness fraught,— Oh! could this work be of woman wrought? Yes! 'twas her deed!—by that haughty smile It was her’s!—She hath kindled her funeral pile! Never might shame on that bright head be, Her blood was the Greek's, and hath made her free.

Proudly she stands, like an Indian bride On the pyre with the holy dead beside; But a shriek from her mother hath caught her ear, As the flames to her marriage-robe draw near, And starting, she spreads her pale arms in vain To the form they must never infold again.

One moment more, and her hands are clasp'd, Fallen is the torch they had wildly grasp’d,