The Convent

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If chance some pensive stranger, hither led,
  His bosom glowing from majestic views,
  Temple and tower 'mid the bright landscape's hues,
  Should ask who sleeps beneath this lowly bed?
  A maid of sorrow. To the cloistered scene,
  Unknown and beautiful a mourner came,
  Seeking with unseen tears to quench the flame
  Of hapless love: yet was her look serene
  As the pale moonlight in the midnight aisle;--
  Her voice was gentle and a charm could lend,
  Like that which spoke of a departed friend;
  And a meek sadness sat upon her smile!--
  Now, far removed from every earthly ill,
  Her woes are buried, and her heart is still.

© William Lisle Bowles