Mariana in the south

Till all the crimson changed, and past Into deep orange o’er the sea, Low on her knees herself she cast, Before Our Lady murmur’d she; Complaining, “Mother, give me grace To help me of my weary load”. And on the liquid mirror glow’d The clear perfection of her face. “Is this the form,” she made her moan, “That won his praises night and morn?” And “Ah,” she said, “but I wake alone, I sleep forgotten, I wake forlorn”.

Nor bird would sing, nor lamb would bleat, Nor any cloud would cross the vault, But day increased from heat to heat, On stony drought and steaming salt; Till now at noon she slept again, And seem’d knee-deep in mountain grass, And heard her native breezes pass, And runlets babbling down the glen. She breathed in sleep a lower moan, And murmuring, as at night and morn, She thought, “My spirit is here alone, Walks forgotten, and is forlorn”.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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Picture: “Mariana in the south” - John William Waterhouse