 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
697
THE BURDEN OF BEAUTY.
O ponder, darling, on the gift of graces,
That crown thy budding life with tender bloom,
And though they be not seen yet leave their traces,
As perfumes lingering in the mourner's room;
That crown thy budding life with tender bloom,
And though they be not seen yet leave their traces,
As perfumes lingering in the mourner's room;
When withered Eden at the blast of doom,
God set its fairest flowers in children's faces,
That they might blossom in the sunless places,
And called them good and bade them break the gloom.
God set its fairest flowers in children's faces,
That they might blossom in the sunless places,
And called them good and bade them break the gloom.
But, ah, the breath of passion and of pleasures,
Falls on their growth and warps it unto worse,
While cold corruption makes their heart its treasure;
Falls on their growth and warps it unto worse,
While cold corruption makes their heart its treasure;
It changes beauty's blessing to a curse,
Till folly wakes to find the tomb its measure,
And at the touch of truth its dreams disperse.
Till folly wakes to find the tomb its measure,
And at the touch of truth its dreams disperse.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |