128 HIDDEN GLORY.
Better slay pretty myths on the stairs, And bury them there under roses,
Lest, embodied, they shame later choice, When love s later blossom uncloses.
��HIDDEN GLORY.
FROM Virginia s mountain-shadow Comes a tale of fairy-land Caverns hung with stony samite ; Curtains looped with silver band ;
Strange stalactites, rosy-tinted ;
Mighty chambers, deep and wide ; Fair, translucent, crystals draping
Like the garments of a bride ;
Chandelier and fretted cornice ;
Arch and groin and pillared door; Sculptured bust and marble lily
Downward growth from roof to floor ;
Organ-pipe, deep echoes sounding ;
Chaplets, worthy of a fay, These have lain unknown, unlighted,
Neath the hillside of Loray
Through the years, unguessed, untroubled,
Sealed secret in its tomb ; Leaving time for centuries
Above the ground to bud and bloom ;
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