Ambarvalia/Clough/Sonnet 1: Amidst the fleeting many unforgot

by Arthur Hugh Clough

COMMEMORATION SONNETS.

OXFORD, 1844.

I.

Amidst the fleeting many unforgot,

Leonina! whether thou wert seen
Singling, upon the Isis' margent green,
From meaner flowers the frail forget-me-not,
Or, as the picture of a saintly queen,
Sitting, uplifting, betwixt fingers small,
A sceptre of the water-iris tall,
With pendent lily crowned of golden sheen;

So, or in gay and gorgeous gallery,
Where, amid splendours, like to those that far
Flame backward from the sun's invisible car,
Thou lookedst forth, as there the evening star;
Oh, Leonina! fair wert thou to see,
And unforgotten shall thine image be.