Rosalinds Scroll

I LEFT thee last a child at heart  
A woman scarce in years: 
I come to thee a solemn corpse 
Which neither feels nor fears.
 
I have no breath to use in sighs; 5 
They laid the dead-weights on mine eyes 
To seal them safe from tears.
 

Look on me with thine own calm look: 
I meet it calm as thou.
 
No look of thine can change this smile 10 
Or break thy sinful vow: 
I tell thee that my poor scorn'd heart 
Is of thine earth¡ªthine earth¡ªa part: 
It cannot vex thee now.
 

I have pray'd for thee with bursting sob 15 
When passion's course was free; 
I have pray'd for thee with silent lips 
In the anguish none could see; 
They whisper'd oft 'She sleepeth soft'¡ª 
But I only pray'd for thee.
 20 

Go to! I pray for thee no more: 
The corpse's tongue is still; 
Its folded fingers point to heaven  
But point there stiff and chill: 
No farther wrong no farther woe 25 
Hath licence from the sin below 
Its tranquil heart to thrill.
 

I charge thee by the living's prayer  
And the dead's silentness  
To wring from out thy soul a cry 30 
Which God shall hear and bless! 
Lest Heaven's own palm droop in my hand  
And pale among the saints I stand  
A saint companionless.
 

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