A PRETTY picture hangs before my view; The face, in little, of a Southern dame, To me unknown (though not unknown to fame) Save by the lines the cunning limner drew. So grandly Grecian is the lady's head, I took her for Minerva in disguise; But when I marked the winning lips and eyes, I thought of Aphrodite, in her stead; And then I kissed her calm, unanswering mouth (The picture's mine) as any lover might, In the deep fervor of a nuptial night, And envied him who, in the "Sunny South," Calls her his own whose shadow can impart Such very sunshine to a Northern heart! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHILD'S SONG OF CHRISTMAS by MARJORIE LOWRY CHRISTIE PICKTHALL DRIFTING by THOMAS BUCHANAN READ ON THE THRESHOLD by LE ROY J. N. BOYD A LETTER: A MANDARIN TO HIS WIFE by JESSIE MCINTOSH BROWN MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET: FIRST SQUIRE (2) by THOMAS CAMPION BALLAD TO THE TUNE - 'BUT THAT NE'ER TROUBLES ME, BOYS' by PATRICK CAREY |