LA REINE BLANCHE. 75 "LA REINE BLANCHE." "DOOMED to misfortune! did the sybil say ? “When first the sun rose on thy natal day; "Doomed to misfortune! life's new joys begun "Whilst gathering clouds half veiled thy earthly sun ; "Doomed to misfortune by some fatal power, "That breathed its poison on thy spring-tide hour. "Alas, how dark thy doom! with portents hung "The mantling veil around thy cradle flung, “Which like a canopy of shade and gloom, "Prefigured well the confines of the tomb." Hushed was the sybil's strain-her dark decrees Enveloped not thy spirit's destinies, No! for the God of providence and love Does, o'er the dawn of our existence, move; And vice and virtue, as their currents flow, Salute the shores of happiness and woe. Bright was thy opening morn, its beams awhile Did on thy path, with radiant beauty smile. Fair were thy hopes for earth, and sweet the bliss To drink thy fill of new-born happiness; Soft was the bed of down to sooth thee spread, And smooth the pillowy couch beneath thy head; Rich was thy crown of brilliants, and thy hand Embraced the sceptre of a votive land; Green was the chaplet that adorned thy brow,Where is that wreath of shining laurels now? Oh who shall paint the charms which nature gave To deck thy form, appointed for the grave! Thy fair and regal beauty-and the grace That crowned thy person and illumed thy face! LA REINE BLANCHE. 75 "LA REINE BLANCHE." "DOOMED to misfortune! did the sybil say? "When first the sun rose on thy natal day; "Doomed to misfortune! life's new joys begun "Whilst gathering clouds half veiled thy earthly sun; "Doomed to misfortune by some fatal power, "That breathed its poison on thy spring-tide hour. "Alas, how dark thy doom! with portents hung "The mantling veil around thy cradle flung, "Which like a canopy of shade and gloom, "Prefigured well the confines of the tomb." Hushed was the sybil's strain-her dark decrees Enveloped not thy spirit's destinies, No! for the God of providence and love Does, o'er the dawn of our existence, move; And vice and virtue, as their currents flow, Salute the shores of happiness and woe. Bright was thy opening morn, its beams awhile Did on thy path, with radiant beauty smile. Fair were thy hopes for earth, and sweet the bliss To drink thy fill of new-born happiness; Soft was the bed of down to sooth thee spread, And smooth the pillowy couch beneath thy head ; Rich was thy crown of brilliants, and thy hand Embraced the sceptre of a votive land; Green was the chaplet that adorned thy brow,Where is that wreath of shining laurels now? Oh who shall paint the charms which nature gave To deck thy form, appointed for the grave! Thy fair and regal beauty-and the grace That crowned thy person and illumed thy face! |