Classic Poem

THE QUEEN OF FRANCE

Behold where Gallia's captive queen
With steady eye and look serene
In life's last awful — awful scene
Slow leaves her sad captivity.

Hark! the shrill horn that rends the sky
Bespeaks the ready murder nigh!
The long parade of death I spy,
And leave my lone captivity.

Farewell, ye mansions of despair,
Scenes of my sad sequestered care;
The balm of bleeding woe is near, —
Adieu, my lone captivity!

To purer mansions in the sky
Fair Hope directs my grief-worn eye,
Where sorrow's child no more shall sigh
Amid her lone captivity.

Adieu, ye babes, whose infant bloom
Beneath oppression's lawless doom
Pines in the solitary gloom
Of undeserved captivity!

O Power benign that rul'st on high,
Cast down, cast down a pitying eye:
Shed consolation from the sky
To soothe their sad captivity!

Now, virtue's sure reward to prove,
I seek empyreal realms above
To meet my long-departed love;
Adieu, my lone captivity!