Felicia Hemans

“ As it dropt from her hand at her rival's feet,
Into fragments, whose dying thrill was sweet!
What more remaineth? her day was done;
Her fate and the Broken Lute's were one!
The light, the vision, the gift of power,
Pass'd from her soul in that mortal hour,
Like the rich sound from the shatter'd string,
Whence the gush of sweetness no more might spring! ”

“ And her eye all fill'd with the spirit's play,
Like the flash of a gem to the changeful day,
And her long hair waving in ringlets bright—
So came that being of Hope and Light!
—One moment, Erminia! one moment more,
And life, all the beauty of life, is o'er! ”

“ Whispering, while the stern sad knell
On the air's bright stillness fell,
—"From the power of chill and change,
Souls to sever and estrange;
From Love's wane—a death in life,
But to watch a mortal strife ”