Page:The complete works of Mrs. E. B. Browning (Volume 1).djvu/216

140 :Their souls to moralize on glory's pall,
 * I walk'd with silence in a cloud of thought :

So, what they erst had learn'd, I mine own spirit taught.


 * Ay! with mine eyes of flesh, I did behold 10
 * The likeness of their flesh! They, the great dead.
 * Stood still upon the canvass, while I told
 * The glorious memories to their ashes wed.
 * There, I beheld the Sidneys:—he, who bled
 * Freely for freedom's sake, bore gallantly
 * His soul upon his brow;—he, whose lute said
 * Sweet music to the land, meseem'd to be

Dreaming with that pale face, of love and Arcadie.


 * Mine heart had shrined these. And therefore past
 * Were these, and such as these, in mine heart's pride, 20
 * Which deem'd death, glory's other name. At last
 * I stay'd my pilgrim feet, and paused beside
 * A picture, which the shadows half did hide.
 * The form was a fair woman's form; the brow
 * Brightly between the clustering curls espied:
 * The cheek a little pale, yet seeming so

As, if the lips could speak, the paleness soon would go.


 * And rested there the lips, so warm and loving.
 * That, they could speak, one might be fain to guess:
 * Only they had been much too bright, if moving, 30
 * To stay by their own will, all motionless.
 * One outstretch'd hand its marble seal 'gan press
 * On roses which look'd fading; while the eyes.
 * Uplifted in a calm, proud loveliness,
 * Seem'd busy with their flow'ry destinies.

Drawing, for ladye's heart, some moral quaint and wise.