by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)
To a picture of Eleonora Duse as "Francesca da Rimini"
Language: English
Oh flower-sweet face and bended flower-like head! Oh violet whose purple cannot pale, Or forest fragrance ever faint or fail, Or breath and beauty pass among the dead! Yea, very truly has the poet said, No mist of years or might of death avail To darken beauty -- brighter thro' the veil We see the glimmer of its-wings outspread. Oh face embowered and shadowed by thy hair, Some lotus blossom on a darkened stream! If ever I have pictured in a dream My guardian angel, she is like to this, Her eyes know joy, yet sorrow lingers there, And on her lips the shadow of a kiss.
Authorship:
- by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "To a Picture of Eleonora Duse as "Francesca da Rimini"", appears in Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "To a picture of Eleonora Duse as "Francesca da Rimini"", op. 102 no. 4 [soprano and piano], from Four Sonnets to Duse, no. 4. [ sung text not verified ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-05-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 106