<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=115214" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>On seeing Mrs. Kean as Constance in King John</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Twas no illusion; from the Past the veil was rent away;<br> The tide that never changes ebbed, and bore me to that day,<br> When in the lists and on the field brave deeds of arms were done,<br> When England blushed beneath the rule of recreant King John.<br> <br> Scenes from that dim and buried Past came thronging on the gaze,<br> In all the splendid pageantry of those heroic days.<br> There Angiers' towers and battlements in stately grandeur frowned<br> Upon the engines of grim war grouped threat'ningly around:<br> <br> And where the gathering warlike ranks in burnished armor gleamed,<br> The sacred Oriflamme of France, the Red Cross Banner streamed:<br> There Templars came with cross and sword, vowed to the Holy Land,<br> There were the fiery feudal lords, each with his vassal band:<br> <br> And in his scarlet robes arrayed, the haughty legate strode,<br> As when above the prostrate King, in ancient days he trode.<br> Forgetful, for the hour I lived in that chivalric age,<br> Amid the stirring scenes portrayed on History's varied page.<br> <br> But when the gentle Constance came and bowed her queenly head<br> To that wild tempest of the soul, that grief profound and dread,<br> The pageant vanished from my sight, I only heard her words,<br> I only felt the woe that thrilled the heart's electric chords.<br> <br> Years bring decay and change and death to kingdom and to clime,<br> But human sympathy and love are changeless through all time:<br> In the eternal Now they live, though centuries o'er them roll;<br> They bloom forever fresh and young, immortal as the soul.<br> <br> Thou, on whose brow the coronet of injured Constance shone,<br> Who to the glittering circlet gav'st a lustre not its own, --<br> Thou canst recall those lovely forms the faded Past inurns;<br> Thou summonest, and the shapeless dust to life and youth returns.<br> <br> Thou hast the spell, the magic power, the heart's deep founts to move,<br> To wake the latent ecstasies of Hope, Despair and Love, --<br> And many a poet's loveliest dream now bears thy form and face,<br> Speaks in thy sweet impassioned voice, and wears thy matchless grace.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Anne+Lynch+Botta">Anne Lynch Botta</a> from <i>Poems</i><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=115214" data-title="On seeing Mrs. Kean as Constance in King John de Anne Lynch Botta" data-description="'Twas no illusion; from the Past the veil was rent away;/ The tide that never changes ebbed, and bore me to that day,/ When in the lists and on the field brave deeds of arms were done,/ When England blushed beneath the rule of recreant King John./..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black