Stories in Verse | Page 4

brought,
For which I once had
made demand.
Then added, turning grave from gay;
"But you must promise, if I give,

Your lover's office to resign,
And stand no more 'twixt me and
mine."
His words were water in a sieve.
I turned my back and
strode away.
XIV.
THE LIGHT-HOUSE.
At twilight, past the fountain,
I wandered in the park,
And saw a
closed white lily
Sway on the liquid dark;
And a fire-fly, perched
upon it,
Shone out its fitful spark.
I fancied it a light-house
Mooned on a sky-like sea,
To warn the
fearless sailors
Of lurking treachery--
Of unseen reefs and shallows

That starved for wrecks to be.
O Blanche, O love that spurns me,
'Tis but a cheat thou art.
I would
some friendly light-house
Had warned me to depart
From the secret
reefs and shallows
That hide about your heart.
XV.
DARKNESS.
My hopes and my ambition all were down,
Like grass the mower
turneth from its place;
The night's thick darkness was an angry frown,

And earth a tear upon the cheek of space.

The mighty fiend of storm in wild unrest,
By lightning stabbed,
dragged slowly up the plain;
Great clots of light, like blood, dripped
down his breast, And from his open jaws fell foam in rain.
XVI.
IN THE CHURCH-YARD.
Where the sun shineth,
Through the willow trees,
And the church
standeth,
'Mid the tomb-stones white,
Planting anemones
I saw my delight.
Her mother sleepeth
Beneath the green mound;
A white cross
standeth
To show man the place.
Now close to the ground
Blanche bendeth
her face.
She quickly riseth
As she hears my walk,
And sadly smileth
Through mists of tears;
We mournfully talk
Of departed years.
She downward droopeth
Her beautiful head,
And a blue-bell
seemeth
That blossometh down;
Trembling with dread,
Lest the sky should
frown.
She dearer seemeth
Than ever before.
She gently chideth
My more distant way.
At her heart's one door
I entered to-day.
No palace standeth
As happy as this.
Love ever ruleth
Its precincts alone--
His sceptre a kiss,
And a smile his throne.

There is one Blanche feareth--
She loves not deceit--
She only
wisheth
To dazzle his heart.
We promise to meet.
And separate depart.
XVII.
COMPARISONS.
The moon is like a shepherd with a flock of starry lambkins, The wind
is like a whisper to the mountains from the sea,
The sun a gold moth
browsing on a flower's pearl-dusted pollen; But my words can scarcely
utter what my love is like to me.
She is the sun in light's magnificence across my heart's day shining,
She's the moon when through the heavens of my heart flash meteor
dreams; Her voice is fragrant south wind a silvery sentence blowing;
She is sweeter than the sweetest, she is better than she seems.
XVIII.
AN INQUIRY OF THE SEXTON.
"Sexton, was she here to-day
Who has met me oft before?
Did she
come and go away,
Tired of waiting any more?
For I fancy some
mistake
Has occurred about the time;
Yet, the hour has not yet
passed;
Hark! the bells begin to chime.
"In her hair two roses woo,
One a white, and one a red.
Azure silk
her dress might be,
Though she oft wears white instead.
Here,
beside this marble cross,
Oft she kneels in silent prayer;
Tell me,
has she been to-day,
In the church-yard anywhere?"
"No, the lady that you seek
Has not passed the gate to-day:
I've
been digging at a grave,
And if she had come this way
I'd have seen
her from my work.
She may come to meet you yet.
I remember well

her looks.
Names, not faces, I forget."
XIX.
A RIVAL.
It seems I have a rival
Domiciled over the way;
But Blanche, dear
heart, dislikes him,
Whatever her father may say--
This gorgeously
broadclothed fellow,
Good enough in his way.
To-day as I left the church-yard,
I met them taking a ride,
And my
heart was pierced like a buckler
With a javelin of pride;
I only saw
in my anger
They were sitting side by side.
To-night, in the purple twilight,
Blanche waited upon the walk,
And
beckoned her white hand to me--
A lily swayed on its stalk.
Soon
my jealous pride was foundered
In the maelstrom of talk.
'Twas useless to go to the church-yard,
For some one had played the
spy;
She fancied it was the sexton--
We would let it all go by;
We
now would have bolder meetings,
'Neath her father's very eye.
She took my arm as we idled,
And talked of our love once more,

And how, with her basket of flowers,
She had passed the street before;

We tarried long in the moonlight,
And kissed good-night at her
door.
XX.
KISSES AND A RING.
I never behold the sea
Rush up to the hand of the shore,
And with
its vehement lips
Kiss its down-dropt whiteness o'er,
But I think of
that magic night,
When my lips, like waves on a coast,
Broke over
the moonlit hand
Of her that I love the most.

I never behold the surf
Lit by the sun into gold,
Curl and glitter and
gleam,
In a ring-like billow rolled,
But I think of another ring,
A
simple, delicate band,
That in the night of our troth
I placed on a
darling hand.
XXI.
AN ENEMY MAY BE SERVED, EVEN THROUGH MISTAKE,
WITH PROFIT.
I was walking down the sidewalk,
When up, with flying mane,
Two