HALF kneeling yet, and half reclining, She held her harp against her knees: Aloft the ruddy roofs were shining, And sunset touch'd the trees. From the gold border gleam'd like snow Her foot: a crown enrich'd her brow: Dark gems confin'd that crimson vest Close-moulded on her neck and breast. In silence lay the cloistral court And shadows of the convent towers: Well order'd now in stately sort Those royal halls and bowers. The choral chaunt had just swept by; Bright arms lay quivering yet on high: Thereon the warriors gaz'd, and then Glanced lightly at the Queen again. While from her lip the wild hymn floated, Such grace in those uplifted eyes And sweet, half absent looks, they noted That, surely, through the skies A Spirit, they deem'd, flew forward ever Above that song's perpetual river, And, smiling from its joyous track, Upon her heavenly face look'd back. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO AN AEOLIAN HARP by SARA TEASDALE ANDREA DEL SARTO (CALLED THE FAULTLESS PAINTER) by ROBERT BROWNING THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS POEM FOR PICTURE: TO A PORTRAIT BY EDWARD STEICHEN (RACHMANINOFF) by FRANK ANKENBRAND JR. AS MANY STARS by MATHILDE BLIND TO A SPIRIT (1) by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE ANSWER by IRMA LITTELL BOICE |