PROSE AND POETRY. 



Heaven above it darkens, 



Earth is darker still, 

 And the spirit hearkens 



For the fall of death ! 

 Mark ! again it flashes 



Desolation o'er, 

 Where the torrent dashes, 



Livid with its fears 

 How the menace scareth, 



Quivering with speed, 

 While the life it spareth 



Half from life is shocked ! 

 It has all the beauty 



Eyes may love to see, 

 Wreaking direst duty 



Heart can bleed to know : 

 It's the voice of terror, 



"Tis the crest of light, 

 Warning in red error 



Ocean, earth, and air ! 

 So she sprung and daunted 



Lovely, phrenzied, wild 

 Annabel the vaunted, 



Seville's fairest birth ! 

 She was this hour fleeting, 



Pale in tears, a girl ; 

 But the hours fell greeting, 



Kindled womanhood ! 



On she moved, fire's brightness 



Beaming from her eye, 

 In her step wind's lightness, 



Transport on her brow 

 Mad ! though reckless memory, 



To life's pleasures false, 

 Kept the curse of sanity 



Trusty to her wrongs ! 

 Priest and prelate crowded, 



Beaded monk and nun ; 

 Aught religion shrouded 



With her name and care, 

 Troops in armour prancing, 



And the court's estate, 

 Paused in wonder, glancing 



On that maid's despair ! 

 For they led her lover, 



Linked with outcast slaves, 

 Judged a faithless rover 



From his father's creed ; 

 She had sought to save him 



Sought with him to die ; 

 And the doom they gave him 



Thus her passion fired : 

 " Hallowed by your calling, 



Hellish in your deeds, 

 Sworn to help man's falling, 



By yon blood foresworn ! 



