[Dominic Carlone has kindly shared Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom, his elegantly designed Hallam site at the University of Windsor (from which this document comes), with readers of the Victorian Web.]
(Written at Malvern)
To yonder vale where shepherds dwell,
There came with every dawning year,
Ere earliest larks their notes did trill,
A lady wonderful and fair.
II
She was not born within that vale,
And none from whence she came might know,
But soon all trace of her did fail,
When'er she turned her, far to go.
III
But blessing was when she was seen:
All hearts that day were beating high:
A holy calm was in her mien,
And queenly glanced her maiden eye.
IV
She brought with her both fruits and flowers
Were gathered in another clime,
Beneath a different sun from ours,
And in a nature more sublime.
V
To each and all a gift she gave,
And one had fruit, and one had flower;
Nor youth, nor old man with his stave,
Did homeward go without his dower.
VI
So all her welcome guests were glad--
But most rejoiced one loving pair,
Who took of her the best she had,
The brightest blooms that ever were!
Last modified 8 April 2000.