| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXIV. Bitter Sorrow
On the Picture of a Lady | | By John Hamilton Reynolds (1794–1852) |
| | | SORROW hath made thine eyes more dark and keen, | |
| And set a whiter hue upon thy cheeks, | |
| And round thy pressèd lips drawn anguish-streaks, | |
| And made thy forehead fearfully serene. | |
| Even in thy steady hair her work is seen; | 5 |
| For its still parted darkness—till it breaks | |
| In heavy curls upon thy shoulders—speaks, | |
| Like the stern wave, how hard the storm hath been. | |
| So looked that hapless Lady of the south, | |
| Sweet Isabella, at the dreary part | 10 |
| Of all the passioned hours of her youth | |
| When her green basil pot by brothers’ art | |
| Was stolen away: so looked her painèd mouth | |
| In the mute patience of a breaking heart. | | | | |
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