On a Portrait of Beatrice Cenci
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
Summary
In the Collection at Bredfield House, the Residence of John FitzGerald, Esq.
It haunts me still! that lovely face,
With beauty's own undying power,
Whose pure, imaginative grace
Exists beyond its mortal hour.
That brow so thoughtful, yet so fair,
Might tell of sorrow's chilling shade,
But patient gentleness is there
Each mournful feeling to upbraid.
Those features, moulded to delight
In hours of mirth the gazer's eye,
Are more than beautifully bright
With sorrow's calm sublimity.
’Tis not a face to charm awhile,
By common art or outward spell,
Whose transient power of look or smile
All who behold at once can tell.
Nor is it one which, left behind,
Can mingle with forgotten things;
Calm, energetic, full of mind,
Round it the heart's fond memory clings—
Clings mournfully; while thought would shun
The woes in which it was a sharer;
Joy may boast many a brighter one,
But sorrow never own’d a fairer.
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- Information
- Selected Poems of Bernard Barton, the 'Quaker Poet' , pp. 137 - 138Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2020