THE MAIDEN OF THE ROCK. 



WILL C. MOULTON. 

 With Photographic Study by Dr. J, W. Pardoe. 



I was strolling through a meadow 



One afternoon in June, 

 The Earth all gold with sunshine, 



The daisies all a-bloom ; 

 And, as I idly wandered, 



My heart received a shock 

 At the sudden apparition 



Of a maiden on a rock. 



Her cheeks were red as poppies, 



Her lips curved in surprise, 

 And the very tints of Heaven 



Were reflected in her eyes. 

 Her sunny hair was straying 



O'er the bosom of her frock, 

 And her feet were very winning, 

 As she stood upon the rock. 



Then my animated being 



Seemed at once to petrify, 

 . And my muscles all to stiffen, 



And my joints to ossify. 

 My heart it ceased its beating, 



My feet refused to stir, 

 And my eyes forgot all functions 



Except to gaze at her. 



There Gabriel might have found me 



On the final Judgment Day, 

 But a bobolink alighted 



On a bending grassy spray. 

 He nodded to her gaily, 



Then, with a burst of wrath, 

 Hurled a musical defiance 



At the biped in her path. 



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