Page:Oriental Sketches Dramatic Sketches and Tales.pdf/185

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
176

His haggard eye glared wildly on the crowd—
But there were none to save him, and he died.
His wealth was forfeit to the state; his son,
Young Garcia, exiled from his native land:
His only daughter, sunk in poverty,
Languished and pined.

Helena.

                            A convent's walls, methinks,
Had proved a safe asylum. Charity
Left her not quite uncomforted?

Giovanni.

                                                    I sought
Her humble dwelling, in a borrowed name,
And, like a guardian genius, supplied
Her father's tender cares. From her fair cheek
The rose had fled; but the rich pallidness,
The ivory brightness of her delicate
Pale brow, contrasted with the beaming eye,
Dark as the sable, silken, curls that waved
Around her polished temples, seemed, indeed,