The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith ... Revised by the Author: Coll. ed. |
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 | The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith |  |
Listen, I said: You were not gone a year
When one came from New Zealand, who had been
Sheep-farming in a patriarchal way
To win his Rachel, long since won to love,
What time the lad was schooling at her father's.
A fine young fellow, cheery as the spring
At pairing time, when songs are in the woods,
And in the air, and in the furze and broom;
Manly and kindly too, and full of trust
In Muriel, though she went on as before
With speech and smile and charm of witching beauty,
And winning manner; but behind the scenes
They knew each other, and he knew her love
Was his alone. He liked to see her worshipped,
Being proud of her, and sure of her. Perhaps
She liked, too, being worshipped; who can tell?
You say she was a flirt—and you knew best:
I tell but what I saw. Well, by and by,
The wedding came, and every one was bidden,
And every one was there of her old friends,
Or lovers, and the joy was very great.
But from that moment she became to all
The staidest matron, with a kindly distance
And dignity of noble womanhood
Hedging her round. It seems that he had said
She must not play the nun, when he was gone,
And sit apart, as ticketed “Engaged,”
But take life as it came, like other girls,
Not making him, far off, a haunting fear,
A shadow on the sunshine of her days,
But being joyous in her truth to him,
Which was her freedom; so would he be glad,
Thinking her glad.
When one came from New Zealand, who had been
Sheep-farming in a patriarchal way
To win his Rachel, long since won to love,
What time the lad was schooling at her father's.
A fine young fellow, cheery as the spring
At pairing time, when songs are in the woods,
And in the air, and in the furze and broom;
Manly and kindly too, and full of trust
In Muriel, though she went on as before
With speech and smile and charm of witching beauty,
And winning manner; but behind the scenes
They knew each other, and he knew her love
Was his alone. He liked to see her worshipped,
Being proud of her, and sure of her. Perhaps
She liked, too, being worshipped; who can tell?
You say she was a flirt—and you knew best:
I tell but what I saw. Well, by and by,
The wedding came, and every one was bidden,
And every one was there of her old friends,
Or lovers, and the joy was very great.
But from that moment she became to all
The staidest matron, with a kindly distance
And dignity of noble womanhood
Hedging her round. It seems that he had said
She must not play the nun, when he was gone,
And sit apart, as ticketed “Engaged,”
But take life as it came, like other girls,
Not making him, far off, a haunting fear,
A shadow on the sunshine of her days,
But being joyous in her truth to him,
Which was her freedom; so would he be glad,
Thinking her glad.
A happier man than he
Now there was none, nor yet a brighter home
Than that she made him, with her pretty ways,
And pretty babes, and large intelligence.
Now there was none, nor yet a brighter home
Than that she made him, with her pretty ways,
And pretty babes, and large intelligence.
| The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith | |