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THE lady spoke with a merry scorn,
Laughed with scorn when they talked of care,
"Oh you talk and talk, but the tale is worn
Of poisoned love that kills by despair,
There may be love, but for lover's sake
Never was heart yet known to break."
And she turned away with a haughty smile -
But a deep wound bled in her heart the while.
And "Life is too full of change," she said,
"That grief, like joy, should not pass away.
And why for a dreaming moment fled
Should one sorrow the livelong day?
And what though a fickle love be lost,
Is it worth the light of a life for cost?
But I would laugh with such love to part" -
And all the while blood oozed from her heart.
She decked her beauty in silk and lace,
She set rich gems in her braided hair,
And shone in a glory of youth and grace;
Men's hearts leaped high that she was so fair;
Her proud eye flashed with a queenly glance,
Her step was light and fleet in the dance,
Her laugh rang out with a silver sound -
But the red drops ran from the hidden wound.
There fell on her face no sorrow-sign,
Nothing the slow sharp pain to speak,
Save beneath her eye one soft dark line,
One soft white edge to each rich rosed cheek;
Her large dark eyes grew strangely bright,
And who has seen tear-drops dull their light?
And she spoke glad words with a wondrous smile -
But the life-blood oozed from her heart the while.
Weeping they laid her low in the grave,
She had not wept to pass away,
And "Surely" they said "she was very brave;
With a life as bright as the summer-day,
To look on death with a tearless eye
Almost as though she wished to die!"
And they never knew of their early dead
How the deep deep wound in her heart had bled.
But one in strife with an awful dread
Asked himself "Did I slay her indeed?
She was so young - and now she is dead.
Yet can one small wound so deadly bleed?"
But some one came and stood by his side,
A sweet fair face - and he loved his bride -
And he thought "Ah! no, for life is too fair
"That one should sink under any despair;
"In truth not long could such wound have bled" -
But she who had loved him so was dead.
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A Woman Sold
Bartimaeus
Judas
Pilate
The Walk To Emmaus
A Bride
A March Night
A Messenger
A Mother's Cry
A Wedding
Afterwards
Dead Amy
Deserted
Dreaming
Glad Waves
Going
How The Brook Sings
If
In The Storm
In The Sunshine
Looking Downstairs
Mary Lost
Never Again
Night Whispers
On The Lake
On The Shore
Our Lily
Passing Away
Perjured
Safe
Shadow
Sunlight
The Blush Rose
The Gift
The Heiress' Wooer
The Hidden Wound
The Lake
The Land Of Happy Dreams
The Old Year Out
The Red Star On The Hill
The River
The Setting Star
The Shadow Of A Cloud
To And Fro
To One Of Many
Too faithful
Two Maidens |
