Pauline Pavlovna
July 6, 2023On Reading William Watson’s Sonnet Entitled The Purple East
July 6, 2023Palinode
Who is Lydia, pray, and who
Is Hypatia? Softly, dear,
Let me breathe it in your ear–
They are you, and only you.
And those other nameless two
Walking in Arcadian air–
She that was so very fair?
She that had the twilight hair?–
They were you, dear, only you.
If I speak of night or day,
Grace of fern or bloom of grape,
Hanging cloud or fountain spray,
Gem or star or glistening dew,
Or of mythologic shape,
Psyche, Pyrrha, Daphne, say–
I mean you, dear, you, just you.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) was an American poet, novelist, and editor, known for his nostalgic and romantic poems, including "The Ballad of Babie Bell" and "Memory."