THE BLESSED DAMOZEL (A FRAGMENT)

THE BLESSED DAMOZEL

(A FRAGMENT)

The blessed damozel leaned out

From the gold bar of Heaven;

Her eyes were deeper than the depth

Of waters stilled at even;

She had three lilies in her hand,

And the stars in her hair were seven.

Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,

No wrought flowers did adorn,

But a white rose of Mary’s gift,

For service meetly worn;

Her hair that lay along her back

Was yellow like ripe corn.

Herseemed she scarce had been a day

One of God’s choristers;

The wonder was not yet quite gone

From that still look of hers;

Albeit, to them she left, her day

Had counted as ten years.

(To one, it is ten years of years.

…Yet now, and in this place,

Surely she leaned o’er me — her hair

Fell all about my face. …

Nothing: the autumn-fall of leaves.

The whole year sets apace.)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti THE BLESSED DAMOZEL Oil on canvas. 1875–1878 Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University

Данте Габриэль Россетти БЛАЖЕННАЯ ДЕВА Холст, масло. 1875–1878 Художественный музей Фогга при Гарвардском университете

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THE BLESSED DAMOZEL (A FRAGMENT)

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