The Portrait of Miss Orra White.
Her temper is sweet and serene,
Her bosom is pure and reined,
Expression enlivens her mien,
And virtue enriches her mind.
She is as chaste as the fleeces that fly,
On the wings of the tempest of snow,
Soft pleasure of beams in her eye!
She can weep at the language of woe.
Her lips utter accents of truth,
Her voice is the music of heaven-
Her face wears the features of youth,
Of youth in the garden of Eden.
Edward wrote this poem for Orra sometime before they were married. Its lines are unusually short and direct for Hitchcock, who usually inclined to more ornate expression. Perhaps the simplicity was inspired by the character of its subject, his wife-to-be.