 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
ONLY A WOMAN.
Only a woman, of name
Murmured with bating of breath,
Out in the shadow, and shame
Waiting the sentence of death;
Only another
Hounded, to smother
Under the darkness the sorrow of sin,
Big with its burden of darkness within
Deeper, and dragging
Lower the flagging
Feet, through the gaslight and gloom,
Stumbling along to their doom.
Murmured with bating of breath,
Out in the shadow, and shame
Waiting the sentence of death;
Only another
Hounded, to smother
Under the darkness the sorrow of sin,
Big with its burden of darkness within
Deeper, and dragging
Lower the flagging
Feet, through the gaslight and gloom,
Stumbling along to their doom.
373
Only a woman, and all
Sadly unsexed, with the taint
Branded at heart from her fall,
Staring through jewels and paint;
Robbed of her purity,
Sacred security,
Given to guide with its lamp through the night,
Virginal souls to the infinite light;
Courting by stages
Downward, the wages
Woeful and awfully won,
But through the infamy done.
Sadly unsexed, with the taint
Branded at heart from her fall,
Staring through jewels and paint;
Robbed of her purity,
Sacred security,
Given to guide with its lamp through the night,
Virginal souls to the infinite light;
Courting by stages
Downward, the wages
Woeful and awfully won,
But through the infamy done.
Only a wóman, and cast
Forth by starvation, and strife
Choking the desperate last
Stand for the leavings of life;
Reft of her rudder,
Fain not to shudder,
Though by the ocean that hath not a bound,
Tumbled and tossed in the misery round;
Flying, with haunted
Eyes, yet undaunted,
Out from the anguish of ill,
On to a fearfuller still.
Forth by starvation, and strife
Choking the desperate last
Stand for the leavings of life;
Reft of her rudder,
Fain not to shudder,
Though by the ocean that hath not a bound,
Tumbled and tossed in the misery round;
Flying, with haunted
Eyes, yet undaunted,
Out from the anguish of ill,
On to a fearfuller still.
Only a woman, but sweet
Now with the remnants of grace,
If are befouléd her feet,
If lies eclipse on her face;
Ragged, and trusting
Man with his lusting
Passion that makes her its victim and toy,
Hugged for a moment of damnable joy;
Over the pavement
Borne, in enslavement
Helpless, and sold to the first
Bid for the hopeless athirst.
Now with the remnants of grace,
If are befouléd her feet,
If lies eclipse on her face;
Ragged, and trusting
Man with his lusting
Passion that makes her its victim and toy,
Hugged for a moment of damnable joy;
Over the pavement
Borne, in enslavement
Helpless, and sold to the first
Bid for the hopeless athirst.
Only a woman, and bought
Cheaply, no matter the suit,
Just for the pittance she sought,
Just for a handful of fruit;
Finding no pity
There, in the City
Bought with the blood and baptized with the tears
Poured by its toilers, repaid but in fears;
Blinded, a daughter
Led to the slaughter,
Masked with the feasting of love,
Mocking the light from above.
Cheaply, no matter the suit,
Just for the pittance she sought,
Just for a handful of fruit;
Finding no pity
There, in the City
Bought with the blood and baptized with the tears
Poured by its toilers, repaid but in fears;
Blinded, a daughter
Led to the slaughter,
Masked with the feasting of love,
Mocking the light from above.
374
Only a woman, one more
Offered to Moloch by vice,
Laying her low in her gore,
Duped by that terrible price;
Faithful in error,
Dreaming no terror
Hunted her close, and the murderer's knife
Wooed with the kiss of a Judas her life;
Only a woman,
Tender and human,
Plunged in the merciless deep,
Rounded by sorrow and sleep.
Offered to Moloch by vice,
Laying her low in her gore,
Duped by that terrible price;
Faithful in error,
Dreaming no terror
Hunted her close, and the murderer's knife
Wooed with the kiss of a Judas her life;
Only a woman,
Tender and human,
Plunged in the merciless deep,
Rounded by sorrow and sleep.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |