Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Maid of St. Helena
By Charles Henry Phelps (18531933)A
She gazed, with lifted, shading hand.
Before were vineyards sloping down;
St. Helen’s mount of amethyst.
Were less divinely benedight
To gaze on mountain, vine, and wood.
The fragrance of rare loveliness—
And in her form a simple grace.
So like a vision, and so rare,
To thrill with trembling ecstasy.
I stood afar in sweet dismay.
I did not know its tale of wrong;
Grew garrulous within its throat—
To silence so divine a thing.
A dream of beauty and delight:
Retraced my footsteps down the hill.