4596737Poems — On seeing a Young Lady at her DevotionsLucretia Maria Davidson
ON SEEING A YOUNG LADY AT HER DEVOTIONS.
She knelt, and her dark blue eye was raised,—A sacred fire in its bright beam blazed,And it spread o'er her cold pale cheek a lightSo pure and so sacred, so clear and so bright,That Parian marble, though glittering fair'Neath the moon's pale beam or the sun's broad glare,Were far less sweet, though more dazzlingly bright,Than that cold cheek arrayed in its halo of light.O! I love not the dark rosy hue of the skyWhen the bright blush of morn mantles deeply and high,But my fond soul adores the pure author of light,The 'more when she looks on the broad brow of night;On myriads of stars glitt'ring far through the sky,Like the bright eyes of saints looking down from on highFrom their garden of Paradise, blooming in heaven,On the scene sleeping sweet 'neath the calm smile of even.
I love not the cheek which speaks slumber unbroken;That heart hath ne'er sighed o'er hope's fast fading token;That bosom ne'er throbbed with half fearful delightWhen it thought on its home in the regions of light,Or trembled and wept as with fancy's dear eyeIt gazed on the beautiful gates of the sky,And the angels which watch at their portals of lightAll peaceful, all sacred, all pure, and all bright;But I love that pale cheek as it bends in devotion,Like a star sinking down on the breast of the ocean.1825.
