The soul only needs to see a smile in a white crêpe bonnet in order to enter the palace of dreams.--_Les Misérables._
She had upon her lips almost the light of a smile, with the fulness of tears in her eyes.... The reflection of an angel was in her look.--_Toilers of the Sea._
There is a vision in the heart of each Of justice, mercy, wisdom, tenderness To wrong and pain, and knowledge of its cure: And these embodied in a woman's form That best transmits them, pure as first received, From God above her, to mankind below.
This woman ... ... Being true, devoted, constant--she Found constancy, devotion, truth, the plain And easy commonplace of character.
... The good and tender heart, Its girl's trust and its woman's constancy, How pure yet passionate, how calm yet kind, How grave yet joyous, how reserved yet free As light where friends are--how imbued with lore The world most prizes, yet the simplest. * * * * * Herself creates The want she means to satisfy.
Truly, the woman's way High to lift heart up.
And Michal's face Still wears that quiet and peculiar light Like the dim circlet floating 'round a pearl. * * * * * And yet her calm sweet countenance, Though saintly, was not sad; for she would sing Alone ... bird-like, Not dreaming you were near.--Her carols dropt In flakes through that old leafy bower.
... Such a lady, cheeks so round and lips so red,-- On her neck the small face buoyant like a bell-flower on its bed.
There's a woman like a dew-drop, she's so purer than the purest; And her noble heart's the noblest, yes, and her sure faith's the surest; And her eyes are dark and humid, like the depth on depth of lustre Hid i' the harebell, while her tresses, sunnier than the wild-grape cluster, Gush in golden-tinted plenty down her neck's rose-misted marble; Then her voice's music ... call it the well's bubbling, the bird's warble!
How twinks thine eye, my Love, Blue as yon star-beam.
That flower-like love of hers; * * * * * She was true--she only of them all! True to her eyes, ... those glorious eyes. * * * * * With truth and purity go other gifts. All gifts come clustering to that.
Good as beautiful is she, With gifts that match her goodness, no faint flaw I' the white;--she were the pearl you think you saw.