Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The poetical works of Alfred Tennyson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material is part of the Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection. The original may be consulted at University of California Libraries.
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![So innocent-arch, so cunning-simple, Fioni beneatli lier gatlier'd wimple Glancing with black-beaded eyes, Till the lightning laughters dimple The baby-roses in her cheeks; Then away she flies. Prythee weep, ]\Iay Lilian ! Gayety withoiit eclipse Wearieth me. May Lilian : Thro' my very heart it thrilleth When from crimson-threaded lips Silver-treble laughter trilleth : Prythee weep, ilay Lilian. Praying all I can. If prayers will not hush thee. Airy Lilian, Like a rose-leaf I will crush thee, Fairy Lilian- ISABEL. Eyes not down-dropt nor over brigat, but fed With the clear-pointed flame of chas- tity, Clear, withoutheat, undying, tended by Pure vestal thoughts in the translu- cent fane Ofher still spirit; locks not wide-dispread, Madonna-wise on either side hei- head ; Sweet li^Ti? whereon perpetually did reign The summer calm of golden charity, VV^ere fixed shadows of thy fixed mood, Revered Isabel, the crown and head. The stately flower of female fortitude, Of perfect wifehood and pure lowli- head. The intuitive decision of a bright And thorough-edged intellect to part Error from crime ; a prudence to withhold ; The laws of marriage character'd in gold Upon the blanched tablets of her heart; A love still burning upward, giving light To read those laws ; an accent very low In blandishment, but a most silver flow Of subtle-paced counsel in distress, Right to the heart and brain, tho' un- descried, Winning its way with extreme gen tleness Thro' all the outworks of suspicious pride • A courage to endure and to obey ; A hate of gossip parlance, and of sway, Crown'd Isabel, thro' all her placid life^ The queen of marriage, a most perfect wife. III. The mellow'd reflex of a winter moon ; A clear stream flowing with a muddy one, Till in its onward current it absorbs With swifter movement and in purer light The vexed eddies of its wayward brother : A leaning and upbearing parasite, Clothing the stem, which else had fallen quite, With cluster'd flower-bells and ambro- sial orbs Of rich fruit-bunches leaning on each other — Shadow forth thee : — the world hath not another (Tho' all her fairest forms are types of thee, 4nd thou of G od in thy great charity) Of such a finish'd chasten'd jmrity. MARIANA. ' Mariana in the i oated grange. Measure for Measuyt, With blackest moss the flower-jdots Were thickly crusted, one and all: The rusted nails fell from the knots That held the pear to the galjle-wall. The broken sheds look'd sad and strange: Unlifted was the clinking latch ; Weeded and worn the ancient thatch Upon the lonely moated grange. She only said, '' My life is dreary, He Cometh not, she said ; She said, I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead ! Her tears fell with the dews at even ; Her tears fell ere the dews were dried | She could not look on the sweet heaven, Either at morn or eventide.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20452597_0020.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
