POEMS.
81
ANNA BOLEYN'S FAREWELL TO THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH, ON THE MORNING OF HER EXECUTION.
Mine own! my cherished one! a breaking heart,
'Mid its last agonies, still clings to thee!
Doomed from a mother's love so soon to part,
And bow thy young bright form to misery.
'Mid its last agonies, still clings to thee!
Doomed from a mother's love so soon to part,
And bow thy young bright form to misery.
Thou little reck'st, mine infant, that one hour
Will leave thee friendless, desolate; when thou
Wilt have no shelter from the storms which low'r
Above thy guiltless and unconscious brow!
Will leave thee friendless, desolate; when thou
Wilt have no shelter from the storms which low'r
Above thy guiltless and unconscious brow!
Thou wilt not have, ere long, my little one,
A mother's heart to shield as mine has done;
Thou wilt be left unheeded and alone—
I shall be silent, and my race be run.
A mother's heart to shield as mine has done;
Thou wilt be left unheeded and alone—
I shall be silent, and my race be run.
Yet thou art happy, for thou canst not know
That dark'ning clouds shall overcast thy sky;
Thy fair young cheek is radiant with the glow
Of childhood's joy flung o'er thee from on high.
That dark'ning clouds shall overcast thy sky;
Thy fair young cheek is radiant with the glow
Of childhood's joy flung o'er thee from on high.
