“He bent above: so still her breath
What air she breathed he could not say,
Whether in worlds of life or death:
So softly ebbed away, away
The life that had been light to him,
So fled her beauty leaving dim
The emptying chambers of his heart
Thrilled only by the pang and smart,
The dull and throbbing agony
That suffers still, yet knows not why.”
By Still Waters (1906)
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George William Russell 134
Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter 1867–1935Related quotes
“But so fair,
She takes the breath of men away
Who gaze upon her unaware.”
Bianca Among the Nightingales http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=3035&poem=127031, st. 12 (1862).
Dream Days (1898), The Reluctant Dragon
Context: St. George paced slowly up the street. The Boy's heart stood still and he breathed with sobs, the beauty and the grace of the hero were so far beyond anything he had yet seen. His fluted armour was inlaid with gold, his plumed helmet hung at his saddle-bow, and his thick fair hair framed a face gracious and gentle beyond expression till you caught the sternness in his eyes. He drew rein in front of the little inn, and the villagers crowded round with greetings and thanks and voluble statements of their wrongs and grievances and oppressions. The Boy heard the grave gentle voice of the Saint, assuring them that all would be well now, and that he would stand by them and see them righted and free them from their foe; then he dismounted and passed through the doorway and the crowd poured in after him. But the Boy made off up the hill as fast as he could lay his legs to the ground.
“So softly death succeeded life in her,
She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.”
Eleonora, Line 315.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 66.
Source: The Goblin Emperor (2014), Chapter 4, "The Funeral at the Ulimeire" (p. 48)
