She Told Her Beads

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She told her beads with down-cast eyes,
  Within the ancient chapel dim;
  And ever as her fingers slim
  Slipt o'er th' insensate ivories,
  My rapt soul followed, spaniel-wise.
  Ah, many were the beads she wore;
  But as she told them o'er and o'er,
  They did not number all my sighs.
  My heart was filled with unvoiced cries
  And prayers and pleadings unexpressed;
  But while I burned with Love's unrest,
  She told her beads with down-cast eyes.

© Paul Laurence Dunbar