 | A Summer Christmas and a Sonnet upon The S.S. "Ballaarat." |  |
He ceased mid acclamation—all
Listening to the fate and fall
Of Helen with attention wrapt,
And one there thinking how it happed
That he had had a Helen too,
A Helen who was fair to view,
And loved by all who looked on her
For womanly soft character,
With woman's steel devotion mixed,
And who her love unfaltering fixed
On him, although he lived away
For years as many as Greece lay
Before the ramparts of Troy town,
A Helen who had never known
A Paris—with clear sapphire eyes
Which never bent in loving wise
On any eyes but his, with hair,
So beautifully waved and fair,
Which never felt a coaxing hand
Save his, who left her native land
To share his exile and new home,
And not, like the first Helen, roam
To leave her husband. Helen Forte,
Wholly unconscious of the thought
Which flitted through her husband's brain,
Was thinking in a thankful strain
How merciful it was that she
Had ne'er been left by fate to be
Tempted like her fair eponym,
Not counting her long wait for him
As aught. So potent is the spell
Cast over women who love well.
Listening to the fate and fall
Of Helen with attention wrapt,
And one there thinking how it happed
That he had had a Helen too,
A Helen who was fair to view,
And loved by all who looked on her
For womanly soft character,
With woman's steel devotion mixed,
And who her love unfaltering fixed
On him, although he lived away
For years as many as Greece lay
Before the ramparts of Troy town,
A Helen who had never known
A Paris—with clear sapphire eyes
Which never bent in loving wise
On any eyes but his, with hair,
So beautifully waved and fair,
Which never felt a coaxing hand
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To share his exile and new home,
And not, like the first Helen, roam
To leave her husband. Helen Forte,
Wholly unconscious of the thought
Which flitted through her husband's brain,
Was thinking in a thankful strain
How merciful it was that she
Had ne'er been left by fate to be
Tempted like her fair eponym,
Not counting her long wait for him
As aught. So potent is the spell
Cast over women who love well.
Nor were the two old folks alone
Moved by the evening's tales, for one
Had listened to Nausicaa's grief
On learning that the island-chief
Was wedded, and would sail away
Not without picturing a day
When she herself might sadly gaze
Toward the dim horizon's haze.
This story of Nausicaa
Planted the embryo of dismay
In her soft heart, though she cared not,
So she assured herself, one jot
For the Professor. Yet she knew,
And swiftly the conviction grew,
That did she learn that he was wed
A load of disappointment dead
Would press on her, that when he went
The gentle hours of content
Would take wing with him. Margaret,
Although she understood not yet
Much of the meaning of the tale
Of Spartan Helen, did not fail
To sympathize with her as one
On whom much woe would fall anon.
And practical Maud Morrison
Made up her mind that she would ne'er
Herself as witlessly ensnare
As the Greek Queen pourtrayed therein,
The type of beauty in soft sin,
With no fault but her frailties,
To bards of thirty centuries.
Moved by the evening's tales, for one
Had listened to Nausicaa's grief
On learning that the island-chief
Was wedded, and would sail away
Not without picturing a day
When she herself might sadly gaze
Toward the dim horizon's haze.
This story of Nausicaa
Planted the embryo of dismay
In her soft heart, though she cared not,
So she assured herself, one jot
For the Professor. Yet she knew,
And swiftly the conviction grew,
That did she learn that he was wed
A load of disappointment dead
Would press on her, that when he went
The gentle hours of content
83
Although she understood not yet
Much of the meaning of the tale
Of Spartan Helen, did not fail
To sympathize with her as one
On whom much woe would fall anon.
And practical Maud Morrison
Made up her mind that she would ne'er
Herself as witlessly ensnare
As the Greek Queen pourtrayed therein,
The type of beauty in soft sin,
With no fault but her frailties,
To bards of thirty centuries.
| A Summer Christmas and a Sonnet upon The S.S. "Ballaarat." | |