Читать книгу Ballads of Beauty - Various - Страница 9

Along the frozen lake she comes

In linking crescents, light and fleet;

The ice-imprisoned Undine hums

A welcome to her little feet.

I see the jaunty hat, the plume

Swerve bird-like in the joyous gale, —

The cheeks lit up to burning bloom,

The young eyes sparkling through the veil.

The quick breath parts her laughing lips,

The white neck shines through tossing curls;

Her vesture gently sways and dips,

As on she speeds in shell-like whorls.

Men stop and smile to see her go;

They gaze, they smile in pleased surprise;

They ask her name; they long to show

Some silent friendship in their eyes.

She glances not; she passes on;

Her steely footfall quicker rings;

She guesses not the benison

Which follows her on noiseless wings.

Smooth be her ways, secure her tread,

Along the devious lines of life,

From grace to grace successive led, —

A noble maiden, nobler wife!