Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A LADY AT THE OPERA, by EMMA GRAY TRIGG First Line: In your pale hair is a coronet of diamonds Last Line: Alive and free! Subject(s): Diamonds; Love - Unrequited; Passion | ||||||||
In your pale hair is a coronet of diamonds; Diamonds glisten in your ears and on your fingers. Your white breast is flashing with diamonds, And they encircle both your wrists. But under this glistering burden of jewels You droop wearily . . . Sitting so still . . . so still and so cold, Like a winter tree heavy with sleet, Bent low by the weight of its sparkling garment. I pray you, leave the white feather fan Idle in your lap; You are quite cool enough. Do you know, lady, what a terrible thing it is To be ice-bound? You must know, for your eyes are dull With looking too long on diamonds. You seem to listen, But you do not hear the music. It is only a cold wind blowing over you That sets the diamonds dancing Like ice struck by moonlight. Is there nothing can warm you? Surely, once . . . long ago . . . Oh, listen, listen keenly to the music! Can't you feel that it is pulsing warm With broken hearts and living souls? O lady, I should like to see your eyes Flame with some burning passion That would melt away your diamonds, And dim their frozen fire. I want to see them melt and drip in tears Down from your pale hair, Your neck, your heavily-ringed hands, Till even you, Like the ice-bound tree released by the sun, Shall stand once warm and human, Rid of your jewelled isolation, Swayed by music, Alive and free! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...APPULDURCOMBE PARK by AMY LOWELL FIVE ACCOUNTS OF A MONOGAMOUS MAN by WILLIAM MEREDITH ON PASSION AS A LITERARY TRADITION by JOHN CIARDI LES GRANDES PASSIONS MANQUEES by IRVING FELDMAN |
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