IF I WERE A QUEEN.
65
To stand defiant, in the glare
Of rising war, and softly say:
"My Beauty will subdue them!" Rare
And royal bloom must drop away;
Nor would I as a ghost look fair,
If I were a Queen.
Of rising war, and softly say:
"My Beauty will subdue them!" Rare
And royal bloom must drop away;
Nor would I as a ghost look fair,
If I were a Queen.
Penelopé! No, on my word:
Vexed grievously with suitors, while
Much-wandering Ulysses heard
Fine singing at the sirens' isle,
Too small were Ithaca for me!
Then she whose gold hair glitters high
With stars caught in its tangles?[1]—See,
How beautiful it is! But I
Should choose my hair on Earth to be,
If I were a Queen!
Vexed grievously with suitors, while
Much-wandering Ulysses heard
Fine singing at the sirens' isle,
Too small were Ithaca for me!
Then she whose gold hair glitters high
With stars caught in its tangles?[1]—See,
How beautiful it is! But I
Should choose my hair on Earth to be,
If I were a Queen!
Nor slight, blonde Marie Antoinette?
Nor she the Austrians called their King?
Nor any Blanche, or Margaret?
Nor Russia's Catharine? Would I bring
The Spanish woman's loth heart, then,
From Aragon to England's throne?
Nor she the Austrians called their King?
Nor any Blanche, or Margaret?
Nor Russia's Catharine? Would I bring
The Spanish woman's loth heart, then,
From Aragon to England's throne?
- ↑ Berenice's hair.
