 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
22
“WOMEN MUST WEEP.”
For men the triumph, and the joy of battle
With fellow men, who fain would keep
The well-springs and the fatted sheep,
And for themselves green pastures of the cattle;
For them the headlong rush, and iron rattle
Down the red line, the fiery sweep
Of forward squadrons dense and deep;
And then repose, the club, the evening tattle,
The flowers from which the fairies peep,
And children with their playthings and their prattle,
In proud possession of some tiny chattel;
Women must weep.
With fellow men, who fain would keep
The well-springs and the fatted sheep,
And for themselves green pastures of the cattle;
For them the headlong rush, and iron rattle
Down the red line, the fiery sweep
Of forward squadrons dense and deep;
And then repose, the club, the evening tattle,
The flowers from which the fairies peep,
And children with their playthings and their prattle,
In proud possession of some tiny chattel;
Women must weep.
For men the golden prize, the lifted places
Above the tumult of the years—
The harvest of the yellow ears,
Bursting their barns—and those more splendid spaces,
Where statesmen look upon each other's faces,
And with the onset as of spears,
Amidst a nation's hopes and fears,
Stamp on the passing hour heroic traces—
The lightning law, that shines and shears
Through crumbling bolts and rotten braces,
And gives to honest day the hidden graces;
For women tears.
Above the tumult of the years—
The harvest of the yellow ears,
Bursting their barns—and those more splendid spaces,
Where statesmen look upon each other's faces,
And with the onset as of spears,
Amidst a nation's hopes and fears,
Stamp on the passing hour heroic traces—
The lightning law, that shines and shears
Through crumbling bolts and rotten braces,
And gives to honest day the hidden graces;
For women tears.
For men the rule, the glamour and the glory;
While others to their duty creep,
Or thinly babble in their sleep
Of the desired and still-delaying story,
Which glimmers far through shadow shy and hoary;
While others clamber up the steep,
To starry posts they cannot keep,
Or droop and fall halfway on pillows gory;
For men the laughter and the leap
Of winds and waves and galleys now not oary,
The banner spread on some new promontory;
Women must weep.
While others to their duty creep,
Or thinly babble in their sleep
Of the desired and still-delaying story,
Which glimmers far through shadow shy and hoary;
While others clamber up the steep,
To starry posts they cannot keep,
Or droop and fall halfway on pillows gory;
For men the laughter and the leap
Of winds and waves and galleys now not oary,
The banner spread on some new promontory;
Women must weep.
For men the ancient charter of oppressing,
That yet its hideous forehead rears,
And many a maiden bosom sears,
Meant for the right and rapture of caressing,
But shaken with the curse instead of blessing;
For men the tyrant sloth that hears,
When frailty in repentance nears,
And pities not the dire distressing,
Which weakness unto might endears,
But from the freedom of its foul transgressing,
In silence yields a demon's acquiescing;
For women tears.
That yet its hideous forehead rears,
And many a maiden bosom sears,
Meant for the right and rapture of caressing,
But shaken with the curse instead of blessing;
For men the tyrant sloth that hears,
When frailty in repentance nears,
And pities not the dire distressing,
Which weakness unto might endears,
But from the freedom of its foul transgressing,
In silence yields a demon's acquiescing;
For women tears.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |