Part 1 — "CHAMBER SCENE"
Reading edition
An Exquisite Picture In The Studio Of A Young Artist At Rome
She rose from her untroubled sleep, And put away her soft brown hair, And, in a tone as low and deep As love's first whisper, breathed a prayer— Her snow-white hands together pressed, Her blue eyes sheltered in the lid, The folded linen on her breast, Just swelling with the charms it hid; And from her long and flowing dress Escaped a bare and slender foot, Whose shape upon the earth did press Like a new snow-flake, white and "mute"; And there, from slumber pure and warm, Like a young spirit fresh from heaven, She bowed her slight and graceful form, And humbly prayed to be forgiven.
Oh God! if souls unsoiled as these Need daily mercy from Thy throne; If she upon her bended knees, Our loveliest and our purest one,— She, with a face so clear and bright, We deem her some stray child of light;— If she, with those soft eyes in tears, Day after day in her first years, Must kneel and pray for grace from Thee, What far, far deeper need have we! How hardly, if she win not heaven, Will our wild errors be forgiven!
Nathaniel Parker Willis [1806-1867]