| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 977. The Blazing Heart |
| | | By Alice Williams Brotherton |
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| WHO are ye, spirits, that stand | |
| In the outer gloom, | |
| Each with a blazing heart in hand, | |
| Which lighteth the dark beyond the tomb? | |
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| “Oh, we be souls that loved | 5 |
| Too well, too well! | |
| Yet, for that love, though sore reproved, | |
| (Oh, sore reproved!) have we ’scaped hell. | |
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| “’Scaped hell, but gained not heaven. | |
| Woe, woe and alas! | 10 |
| Only—to us this grace is given, | |
| To light the dark where the dead must pass. | |
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| “Behind us the shadows throng, | |
| And the mists are gray; | |
| But our blazing hearts light the soul along | 15 |
| From grave to yon gate that hides the day.” | |
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| Who may this lady be | |
| At my right hand? | |
| “This is the heart which for Anthony | |
| Changed from soft flesh to a burning brand.” | 20 |
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| “This for Æneas glowed, | |
| Is glowing still.” | |
| “This kindled for Phaon; the flame it showed | |
| No waters of ocean could quench or kill.” | |
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| This shape, with the flowing hair? | 25 |
| “She loved so much | |
| That even the Sinless heard her prayer, | |
| Pitied her pangs, and suffered her touch.” | |
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| Bid the sounds of crackling cease! | |
| “They blaze, they burn!” | 30 |
| Let me flee back to my coffined peace! | |
| “Pass on (they beckon); there ’s no return.” | |
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| Spirits, why press ye close? | |
| I am faint with fear! | |
| “Already thy heart like an ember glows; | 35 |
| Pluck it forth from thy bosom, thy place is here.” | |
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| Happy Francesca! thine | |
| Is the fairer lot. | |
| Better with him in hell to pine | |
| Than stand in cool shadows by him forgot! | 40 |
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