Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Two-faced, as Janus of old, oh, Maiden! I see thee stand,
With a message to man on thy lips, and gifts in thine outstretched hand:
To each thou comest in turn; we see thee and hear thy voice,
And gaze on thy twofold beauty, and waver, and make our choice.

For here thou art nobly fair, and strong, and calm, and serene,
And some for a while have shrunk from the sternness of thy mien—
The sternness of strangled sorrow—but thou art not dark or drear,
For thine eyes, like the Virgin Mother's, are bright with an unwept tear.

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But there thou art gay and beauteous, as the sunshine of April days,
Scattering light and mirth on flowery, thornless ways.
For before thee a richer verdure falls on the grassy sod,
And flowers awake behind thee, wherever thy feet have trod.

These lips are simple of speech, and few are the words they say,
But straight to the inmost soul their message hath pierced its way;
From those there is ever flowing the murmur of laughing words,
Like the babble of woodland brooks, or the twilight chirping of birds.

This face is grave and earnest, and seldom or sadly smiles;
That ripples with endless laughter, and wantons with wayward wiles.
And this with imperious grace commands the homage of hearts;
That lures with a laugh and a look, and woos with a siren's arts.

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Yet thou, as the sun in heaven, that seemeth to rise and wane,
Art changeless and ever one,—'tis we who have made thee twain;
For we look behind and before: we are fashioned of gold and clay:
We are blind in the gloom of night, and blind in the blaze of day.

And then as the years roll on, and the struggle begins to close,
And we, who are worn and wearied, are waiting for death's repose,
We see that the earth was moving around the unchanging sun,
We know it was we who wavered, and know thee that thou art One.

Then they who have only gazed on the calm and steadfast face,
And cherished its living image of mild and majestic grace,
And given their years to toiling, and waited a weary while,
In the hope of haply gaining the guerdon of one sweet smile:

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On these thou smilest at last, as, after a stormy day,
When mists no longer threaten, and showers have passed away,
The sun bursts forth in a blaze of light on the earth below,
And the clouds are edged with glory, and deepen the evening glow.

Then the tear is a sparkling pearl; the frown is a fringe of light;
Each word is a psalm of joy, to those who listen aright;
And thine is the saintly grace of an angel of Heav'n above;
And sorrow enriches gladness, and duty is lost in Love.

But they who have turned from law, and followed the siren voice,
That whispered of love unfettered, and bade them take and rejoice;
Who have yielded their deepest souls to thy soft and subtle wiles,
Contented to lie and bask in the sunshine of thy smiles.

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Who have lived for the moment's joy, nor recked of the years beyond,—
These find they are more than slaves, and they cannot break their bond:
Loathing they labour on: their pleasures are bitter pains;
And the singing that charmed them once is the cruel clanking of chains.

And those sunny features of thine, that laughed like a rippling brook,
Are swept by a sudden storm; and a dark despairing look
Breaks from beneath each smile: Oh! horror—for who may tell
Of the hungry and haggard eyes of a harlot risen from Hell?

Oh! Love, for I held thee fair, dost thou change thy features so,—
Now bright as the sky above, now dark as the depths below;
When we shrink, and shudder, and tremble, is it Love in wrath we see?—
Ah! no it is thou no longer, but the awful absence of thee.