| Poems by Women |
LAUS VENERIS
A Picture By Burne-Jones
Pallid with too much longing,
White with passion and prayer,
Goddess of
love and beauty,
She sits in the picture there, -
Sits with her dark eyes seeking
Something more subtle still
Than the
old delights of loving
Her measureless days to fill.
She has loved and been loved so often
In her long, immortal years,
That
she tires of the worn-out rapture,
Sickens of hopes and fears.
No joys or sorrows move her,
Done with her ancient pride;
For her head
she found too heavy
The crown she has cast aside.
Clothed in her scarlet splendor,
Bright with her glory of hair
Sad that
she is not mortal, -
Eternally sad and fair,
Longing for joys she knows not,
Athirst with a vain desire,
There she
sits in the picture,
Daughter of foam and fire.
Louise Chandler Moulton [1835-1908]
From: Stevenson, Burton Egbert.
The Home Book of Verse.
This poet:
[Author index]
This collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis.
Collection © 1999-2002 Jone Johnson Lewis.
Citing poems from these pages:
| Author. "Poem Title." Women's History: Poems by Women. Jone Johnson Lewis, editor. URL: (date of logon) |
