Aurora Leigh – Love and Revolution - 2cyberwhelm.org
Aurora Leigh – Love and Revolution - 2cyberwhelm.org
Aurora Leigh – Love and Revolution - 2cyberwhelm.org
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AURORA<br />
Came a morn I stood upon the brink of twenty years <strong>and</strong> looked before <strong>and</strong> after. As I<br />
stood, woman <strong>and</strong> artist, both incomplete, both credulous of completion. I was glad that<br />
day.<br />
YOUNG AURORA<br />
The June was in me, with its multitudes of nightingales all singing in the dark <strong>and</strong><br />
rosebuds reddening where the calyx split.<br />
AURORA<br />
I felt so young, so strong, so sure of life.<br />
YOUNG AURORA<br />
In which fantastic mood I bounded forth at early morning, brushing a green trail across<br />
the lawn with my gown in the dew. Took will <strong>and</strong> way to fly my fancies in the open air<br />
<strong>and</strong> keep my birthday.<br />
Young <strong>Aurora</strong> st<strong>and</strong>s on an old wooden chest in her studio.<br />
YOUNG AURORA<br />
Meanwhile I murmured as honeyed bees hum to themselves, The worthiest poets have<br />
remained uncrowned til death has bleached their foreheads to the bone. And so with me<br />
it must be unless I prove unworthy of the gr<strong>and</strong> adversity<br />
AURORA<br />
And certainly I could not fail so much.<br />
What if I crown myself today?<br />
YOUNG AURORA<br />
AURORA<br />
To learn the feel of it before my brows be numbed.<br />
YOUNG AURORA<br />
Thus speaking to myself half singing it because some thoughts are fashioned like a bell to<br />
ring. I drew a wreath of ivy drenched blinding me with dew; <strong>and</strong> fastening it behind,<br />
turning to face my imaginary public. There he was. Romney with a mouth twice graver<br />
than his eyes.<br />
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