Ossian Collection > Aspects of poetry

2^6 'THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE: [xII.
Oh, take her anguish and her fears
Into a deep recess of years !'
And years do pass ere we see her again. Neglect and
desolation have swept over Rylstone, and in their an-
cient home the name of Norton is unknown. Many
a weary foot she has wandered, far from her home,
which from the day of Francis' burial she has not looked
upon. At length, after many years, she returns to the
neighbourhood, and is seen on a bank once covered with
oaks, but now bare, seated under one sole surviving
mouldering tree.
' Behold her, like a virgin queen,
Neglecting in imperial state
These outward images of fate,
And carrying inward a serene
And perfect sway, through many a thought
Of chance and change, that hath been brought
To the subjection of a holy,
Though stern and rigorous, melancholy !
The like authority, with grace
Of awfulness, is in her face —
There hath she fixed it ; yet it seems
To overshadow, by no native right,
That face, which cannot lose the gleams,
Lose utterly the tender gleams,
Of gentleness and meek delight,
And loving-kindness ever bright :
Such is her sovereign mien : — her dress
(A vest, with woollen cincture tied ;
A hood of mountain-wool undyed)
Is homely — fashioned to express
A wandering Pilgrim's humbleness.'