 | Studies in verse (1865) |  |
“Too young and bright for shame, too young for shame:
She gave me trouble too, a weakly child.
I nearly lost her twice in cradle days,
And prayed, and prayed, that she might live to me.
Fool, blind, to meddle with the ways of God:
O Lord, undo the past, and strike her dead
Here at my breast: so better, there, let be:
Straighten the limbs, and kiss the small dead face;
And I will put her in a little grave,
Deep in the mould, where this same horrible dream
Of shame shall never reach or find her out.
She gave me trouble too, a weakly child.
I nearly lost her twice in cradle days,
And prayed, and prayed, that she might live to me.
Fool, blind, to meddle with the ways of God:
O Lord, undo the past, and strike her dead
Here at my breast: so better, there, let be:
Straighten the limbs, and kiss the small dead face;
And I will put her in a little grave,
Deep in the mould, where this same horrible dream
Of shame shall never reach or find her out.
| Studies in verse (1865) | |