Fringilla: Some Tales In Verse Part 11

G.o.d knows that if, instead of me, There had been any other she, She would have done the same,

X

"Poor me! Of course the whole disgrace, In spite of reason, falls on me: And so all women of my race, In pure right, shall be reason-free, In every case.

"It shall not be in power of man To bind them to their own contentions; But each shall speak, as speak she can, And start anew with fresh inventions, Where she began.

"And so shall they be dearer still; For man shall ne'er suspect in them The plucking of the fatal stem, That brought him all his ill.

XI

"And when hereafter--as there must, Since He, that made us, so hath sworn-- From that whereof we are, the dust, And whereunto we shall return In higher trust--

"There spring a grand and countless race, Replenis.h.i.+ng this vast possession, Till life, hath won a larger s.p.a.ce Than death, by quick and fair succession Of health and grace;

"They too shall find as I have found The grief, that lifts its head on high, A dewy bud the sun shall dry-- But not while on the ground.

XII

"Then men shall love their wives again, Allowing for the frailer kind, Content to keep the heart's Amen, Content to own the turns of mind Beyond their ken.

"And wives shall in their lords be blest, Their higher sense of right perceiving (When possible) with love their test; Exalting, solacing, believing All for the test.

"And for the best shall all things be, If G.o.d once more will s.h.i.+ne around, And lift my husband from the ground, And teach him to lift me."

_New faith inspired the first of wives, She smiles, and drooping hope revives; She scorns a hundred years of woe% And binds her hair, because the breezes blow._

THE MEETING

I

The wind is hushed, the moon is bright, More stars on heaven than may be told; Young flowers are coying with the light, That softly tempts them to unfold, And trust the night.

What form comes bounding from above Down Arafa, the mountain lonely, Afraid to scare its long-lost dove, Yet swift as joy--"It can be only, Only my love!"

What shape is that--too fair to leave On Arafa, the mountain lone?

So trembling, and so faint--"My own, It must be my own Eve!"

II

As when the mantled heavens display The glory of the morning glow, And spread the mountain heights with day, And bid the clouds and shadows go Trooping away,

The Spirit of the Lord arose, And made the earth and heaven to quiver, And scattered all his h.e.l.lish foes, And deigned his good stock to deliver From all their woes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 118.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 120.]

So long the twain had strayed apart, That each as at a marvel gazed, With eyes abashed, and brain amazed; While heart enquired of heart.

III

Our G.o.d hath made a fairer thing Than fairest dawn of summer day-- A gentle, timid, fluttering, Confessing glance, that seeks alway Rest for its wing.

A sweeter sight than azure skies, Or golden star thereon that glideth; And blest are they who see it rise, For, if it cometh, it abideth In woman's eyes.

The first of men such blessing sued; The first of women smiled consent; For husband, wife and home it meant, And no more solitude!

IV

We trample now the faith of old, We make our G.o.ds of dream and doubt; Yet life is but a tale untold, Without one heart to love, without One hand to hold--

The fairer half of humankind, More gentle, playful, and confiding: Whose soul is not the slave of mind, Whose spirit hath a n.o.bler guiding Than we can find.

So Eve restores the sweeter part Of what herself unwitting stole, And makes the wounded Adam whole; For half the mind is heart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 125.]

THE WELL OF SAINT JOHN

The old well of Saint John, in the parish of Newton-Nottage, Glamorgans.h.i.+re, has a tide of its own, which appears to run exactly counter to that of the sea, some half-mile away. The water is beautifully bright and fresh, and the quaint dome among the lonely sands is regarded with some awe and reverence.

_He_

"THERE is plenty of room for two in here, Within the steep tunnel of old grey stone; And the well is so dark, and the spring so clear, It is quite unsafe to go down alone."

_She_

"It is perfectly safe, depend upon it, For a girl who can count the steps, like me; And if ever I saw dear mother's bonnet, It is there on the hill by the old ash-tree."

_He_

"There is n.o.body but Rees Hopkin's cow Watching, the dusk on the milk-white sea; 'Tis the time and the place for a life-long? vow, Such as I owe you, and you owe me."

_She_

"Oh, Willie, how can I, in this dark well?

I shall drop the brown pitcher if you let go; The long? roof is murmuring like a sea-sh.e.l.l, And the shadows are shuddering to and fro."

_He_

"Tis the sound of the ebb, in Newton Bay, Quickens the spring, as the tide grows less; Even as true love flows alway Counter the flood of the world's success."

_She_