Were sever'd from her head; and then they threw
The eternal veil upon her face. Yet still
She seem'd scarce conscious of the scene around:
Even that irrevocable vow, which breaks
All earthly ties, call'd no emotion forth;
Her soul held but one feeling, desolate,
The recklessness of cold and fix'd despair.
The anthem ceas'd, the long last vow is said,
And she is lost for ever to the world!
Many a look on that sweet votary dwelt,
Marvelling that one, in youth's enchanted hour,
Should turn away from life, when life's so fair
As it does ever seem at morning's rise;
When fancy's fairy pencil tints the scene,
Where the warm eye of expectation roves,
Led on by hope, whose wild and gladsome light
Is as a meteor glancing over all;—
At this joy-breathing moment, turn away,
And bid the opening rosebud pine in shade.
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