48
Maddalena's confession.
Mocking my vain devotion! Marvel not!
I was a child. Ginevra fled the 'world,
Like a chased dove that calms its panting heart
Under green forest boughs. Life stood unmasked,
And pleasure mocked her, like a garland twined
Round a drained wine cup. As a vine that grows
Over some marble urn, a bird that builds
Under the cornice of some shattered temple,
Making its ruin echo with delight,
So to her heart, rent, filled with bitter dust;
Came one bright hope. Alas! my thrilling soul
Still quivered in the bended bow of life!
Youth was too mighty. I grew faint. My heart
Leapt at a quick word, and light tremors ran
Painfully through my limbs. My brain waxed dizzy
Over my books, and I would ponder hours
Ere I could wrest its meaning from the page
I strove to read. Or, if I knelt to pray,
My aimless thoughts went wandering blindly on,
The prayer I said suspended. Outward things
Unchallenged touched my senses, that dull stupor
Muffled like sleep.
I was a child. Ginevra fled the 'world,
Like a chased dove that calms its panting heart
Under green forest boughs. Life stood unmasked,
And pleasure mocked her, like a garland twined
Round a drained wine cup. As a vine that grows
Over some marble urn, a bird that builds
Under the cornice of some shattered temple,
Making its ruin echo with delight,
So to her heart, rent, filled with bitter dust;
Came one bright hope. Alas! my thrilling soul
Still quivered in the bended bow of life!
Youth was too mighty. I grew faint. My heart
Leapt at a quick word, and light tremors ran
Painfully through my limbs. My brain waxed dizzy
Over my books, and I would ponder hours
Ere I could wrest its meaning from the page
I strove to read. Or, if I knelt to pray,
My aimless thoughts went wandering blindly on,
The prayer I said suspended. Outward things
Unchallenged touched my senses, that dull stupor
Muffled like sleep.
