False, but Beautiful

John Rollin Ridge 1827 (New Echota) – 1867 ( Grass Valley)



Dark as a demon’s dream is one I love—
In soul—but oh, how beautiful in form!
She glows like Venus throned in joy above,
Or on the crimson couch of Evening warm
Reposing her sweet limbs, her heaving breast
Unveiled to him who lights the golden west!
Ah, me, to be by that soft hand carest,
To feel the twining of that snowy arm,
To drink that sigh with richest love opprest,
To bathe within that sunny sea of smiles,
To wander in that wilderness of wiles
And blissful blandishments—it is to thrill
With subtle poison, and to feel the will
Grow weak in that which all the veins doth fill.
Fair sorceress! I know she spreads a net
The strong, the just, the brave to snare; and yet
My soul cannot, for its own sake, forget
The fascinating glance which flings its chain
Around my quivering heart and throbbing brain,
And binds me to my painful destiny,
As bird, that soars no more on high,
Hangs trembling on the serpent’s doomful eye.
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Submitted by halel on July 13, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
13

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCCCDCEEFFFGGGHHIJJ
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 920
Words 173
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22

John Rollin Ridge

John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee name: Cheesquatalawny, or Yellow Bird, March 19, 1827 – October 5, 1867), a member of the Cherokee Nation, is considered the first Native American novelist.  more…

All John Rollin Ridge poems | John Rollin Ridge Books

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