THE QUEEN OF CYPRUS.
113
'T is sad to change it for the strength
That heart and cheek must know at length.
Many a word of sneer and scorn
Must in their harshness have been borne,
Many a gentle feeling dead,
And all youth's sweet confiding fled,
Ere learn'd that task of shame and pride,
The tear to check, the blush to hide.
'T is midnight, and a starry shower
Weeps its bright tears o'er leaf and flower;
Sweet, silent, beautiful, the night
Sufficing for her own delight.
But other lights than sky and star
From yonder casements gleam afar;
There odorous lamps of argentine
Shed that sweet ray, half shade half shine,
I
