Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/246

May love inspire her in such wise,
With gentlest breath of sighs,
That I, a stony corpse, shall hear her pray,
And force the very skies,
That I may wipe the tears from her dear eyes.

From the fair boughs descended
(Thrice precious memory !)
Upon her lap a shower of fragrant bloom
Amidst that glory splendid.
Humbly reposed she,
Attired as with an aureole's golden gloom.
Some blossoms edged her skirt, and some
Fell on her yellow curls.
Like burnished gold and pearls.
Even so they looked to me upon that day.
Some on the ground, some on the river lay,
Some lightly fluttering above.
Encircling her, seemed whispering : "Here reigns Love."

How many times I cried.
As holy fear o'ercame,
" Surely this creature sprang from Paradise,"
Forgetting all beside
Her goddess mien, her frame.
Her face, her words, her lovely smile, her eyes.
All these did so devise
To win me from the truth, alas !
That I did say and sigh.