The Kingdom of Love | Page 7

my head,?With little chills after it stealing -
And my hands got as numb as the dead.?A moment, and then it was over:
The diamond blazed up in my eyes,?And I saw in the face of my lover
A questioning, strange surprise.
Maybe 'twas the scent of the flowers,
That heavy with fragrance bloomed near,?But I didn't feel natural for hours;
It was odd now, wasn't it, dear??Write soon to your fortunate Clara,
Who has carried the prize away,?And say you'll come on when I marry, -
I think it will happen in May.
A HOLIDAY
THE WIFE
The house is like a garden,
The children are the flowers,?The gardener should come methinks
And walk among his bowers,?Oh! lock the door on worry
And shut your cares away,?Not time of year, but love and cheer,
Will make a holiday.
THE HUSBAND
Impossible! You women do not know?The toil it takes to make a business grow.?I cannot join you until very late,?So hurry home, nor let the dinner wait.
THE WIFE
The feast will be like Hamlet
Without a Hamlet part:?The home is but a house, dear,
Till you supply the heart.?The Xmas gift I long for
You need not toil to buy;?Oh! give me back one thing I lack -
The love-light in your eye.
THE HUSBAND
Of course I love you, and the children too?Be sensible, my dear, it is for you?I work so hard to make my business pay.?There, now, run home, enjoy your holiday.
THE WIFE (turning)
He does not mean to wound me,
I know his heart is kind.?Alas! that man can love us
And be so blind, so blind.?A little time for pleasure,
A little time for play;?A word to prove the life of love
And frighten Care away!?Tho' poor my lot in some small cot
THAT were a holiday.
THE HUSBAND (musing)
She has not meant to wound me, nor to vex -?Zounds! but 'tis difficult to please the sex.?I've housed and gowned her like a very queen?Yet there she goes, with discontented mien.?I gave her diamonds only yesterday:?Some women are like that, do what you may.
FALSE
False! Good God, I am dreaming!
No, no, it never can be -?You who are so true in seeming,
You, false to your vows and me??My wife and my fair boy's mother
The star of my life--my queen -?To yield herself to another
Like some light Magdalene!
Proofs! what are proofs--I defy them!
They never can shake my trust;?If you look in my face and deny them
I will trample them into the dust.?For whenever I read of the glory
Of the realms of Paradise,?I sought for the truth of the story
And found it in your sweet eyes.
Why, you are the shy young creature
I wooed in her maiden grace;?There was purity in each feature,
And my heaven I found in your face.?And, "not only married but mated,"
I would say in my pride and joy;?And our hopes were all consummated
When the angels gave us our boy.
Now you could not blot that beginning
So beautiful, pure and true,?With a record of wicked sinning
As a common woman might do.?Look up in your old frank fashion,
With your smile so free from art;?And say that no guilty passion
Has ever crept into your heart.
How pallid you are, and you tremble!
You are hiding your face from view!?"Tho' a sinner, you cannot dissemble" -
My God! then the tale is true??True, and the sun above us
Shines on in the summer skies??And men say the angels love us,
And that God is good and wise.
Yet he lets a wanton thing like you
Ruin my home and my name!?Get out of my sight or I strike you
Dead in your shameless shame!?No, no, I was wild, I was brutal;
I would not take your life,?For the efforts of death would be futile
To wipe out the sin of a wife.?Wife--why, that word has seemed sainted
I uttered it like a prayer;?And now to think it is tainted -
Christ! how much we can bear!
"Slay you!" my boy's stained mother -
Nay, that would not punish, or save;?A soul that has outraged another
Finds no sudden peace in the grave.?I will leave you here to REMEMBER
The Eden that was your own,?While on toward my life's December
I walk in the dark alone.
TWO SINNERS
There was a man, it was said one time,?Who went astray in his youthful prime.?Can the brain keep cool and the heart keep quiet?When the blood is a river that's running riot??And boys will be boys, the old folks say,?And a man is the better who's had his day
The sinner reformed; and the preacher told?Of the prodigal son who came back to the fold.?And Christian people threw open the door,?With a warmer welcome than ever before.?Wealth and honour were his to command,?And a spotless woman gave him her hand.?And the world strewed their pathway with blossoms abloom,?Crying, "God bless ladye, and God bless groom!"
There was a maiden who went astray,?In the golden dawn of her life's young day.?She had more passion and heart than head,?And she followed blindly where fond Love led.?And Love unchecked is a dangerous guide?To wander at will by