Joan of Arc [poem by Mary E. Fullerton]

[Editor: This poem by Mary Eliza Fullerton was published in Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics (1908).]

Joan of Arc

Not sex nor class, nor alien ways, remote,
Could turn th’ undaunted Dreamer from the deed;
She saw in clouds the way, on earth the need,
On skiey fields the conquering force afloat.
She wrapped her woman’s form in warrior coat
And took the Dream and moulded it to creed, —
The Vision that beheld her people freed
Across her banners with her sword blade wrote.

And so we know her great, alas! and how?
Not by the Vision or the Voice and sword,
The passion of her knight’s devoted vow,
To serve the Miracle; inspired and awed,
We know the Sacred Mark flamed on her brow;
For persecution was her last reward.

Source:
Mary E. Fullerton, Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics, Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian, 1908, p. 39

Editor’s notes:
skiey = (also spelt “skyey”) of or relating to the sky; resembling the sky, sky-like