The Zenana and minor poems of LEL Author:Letitia Elizabeth Landon Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: KATE KEARNEY. Why doth the maiden turn away From voice so sweet, and words so dear ? Why doth the maiden turn away When love and flattery woo her ear ? ... more »And rarely that enchanted twain Whisper in woman's ear in vain. Why doth the maiden leave the hall i" No face is fair as hers is fair, No step has such a fairy fall, No azure eyes like hers are there. The maiden seeks her lonely bower, Although her father's guests are met; She knows it is the midnight hour, She knows the first pale star is set, And now the silver moon-beams wake The spirits of the haunted Lake. The waves take rainbow hues, and now The shining train are gliding by, Their chieftain lifts his glorious brow, The maiden meets his lingering eye. The glittering shapes melt into night; Another look, their chief is gone, And chill and gray comes morning's light, And clear and cold the Lake flows on ; Close, close the casement, not for sleep, Over such visions eyes but weep. How many share such destiny, How many, lured by fancy's beam, Ask the impossible to be, And pine, the victims of a dream. The romantic story of Kate Kearney, " who dwelt by the shore of Killarney," is too well known to need repetition. She is said to have cherished a visionary passion for O'Donoghuc, an enchanted chieftain who haunts those beautiful Lakes, and to have died the victim " of folly, of love, and of madness." FURNESS ABBEY. IN THE VALE OF NIGHTSHADE, LANCASHIRE. I Wish for the days of the olden time, When the hours were told by the abbey chime, When the glorious stars looked down through the midnight dim, Like approving saints on the choir's sweet hymn : I think of the days we are living now, And I sigh for those of the veil and the vow. I would be content alone to ...« less