Ternissa
by Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864)

      Ternissa! you are fled!
      I say not to the dead,
But to the happy ones who rest below:
      For, surely, surely, where
      Your voice and graces are,
Nothing of death can any feel or know.
      Girls who delight to dwell
      Where grows most asphodel,
Gather to their calm breasts each word you speak:
      The mild Persephone
      Places you on her knee,
And your cool palm smooths down stern Pluto’s cheek.

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