Harmonies (Howe collection)/The Headsman
THE HEADSMAN(On a picture found in an old country house)
Covered with dust of years long dead,
And hard beset by cruel chance,
The painting and the girlish head
Bear still the grace of ancient France.
And hard beset by cruel chance,
The painting and the girlish head
Bear still the grace of ancient France.
Look closer—yes—'t is poor Lamballe,
The friend of royal Antoinette,
Fair flower by Terror's fierce mistral
Cut down untimely—fragrant yet!
The friend of royal Antoinette,
Fair flower by Terror's fierce mistral
Cut down untimely—fragrant yet!
Now the time-darkened eyes look out
Through glass in broken forms grotesque,
With curious cobwebs hung about
In quaint festoon and arabesque.
Through glass in broken forms grotesque,
With curious cobwebs hung about
In quaint festoon and arabesque.
And one grim spider in his zeal
Across the round white throat has made
A straight line as of tarnished steel,
In mocking memory of the blade.
Across the round white throat has made
A straight line as of tarnished steel,
In mocking memory of the blade.
Dull emblem of oblivion wrought
Where now my hand can brush it by—
And thus a century is taught
What once it was for her to die!
Where now my hand can brush it by—
And thus a century is taught
What once it was for her to die!
Picture and cobweb—ah, how vain
On earth's remembrance yet to call!
The sum of beauty and of pain,
Spider and painter tell it all.
On earth's remembrance yet to call!
The sum of beauty and of pain,
Spider and painter tell it all.