 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
69
BUILT ON SAND.
Garda's mother, where the fountains
Flash beyond the ocean's flood,
Lived in lands of lakes and mountains—
Garda had Norwegian blood;
Came her mother, seeking better
Earnings from a friendly shore,
Fell into the flowery fetter,
Whence the victims rise no more;
Left no fortune but a blessing
To the daughter, whom her brand
Marked, nor home but hope's caressing
Built on sand.
Flash beyond the ocean's flood,
Lived in lands of lakes and mountains—
Garda had Norwegian blood;
Came her mother, seeking better
Earnings from a friendly shore,
Fell into the flowery fetter,
Whence the victims rise no more;
Left no fortune but a blessing
To the daughter, whom her brand
Marked, nor home but hope's caressing
Built on sand.
Garda grew up somehow, taken
Here and there, while storms withstood,
Tost and tumbled on, and shaken
Sharply into maidenhood;
Fair and tall, with tresses yellow
Rippling round her head, and graced
With a form that had no fellow,
Trust that all alike embraced;
Struggling heavenward, in her story
Pinched and blighted from the first,
Bravely, for the brighter glory
Still athirst.
Here and there, while storms withstood,
Tost and tumbled on, and shaken
Sharply into maidenhood;
Fair and tall, with tresses yellow
Rippling round her head, and graced
With a form that had no fellow,
Trust that all alike embraced;
Struggling heavenward, in her story
Pinched and blighted from the first,
Bravely, for the brighter glory
Still athirst.
All against her seemed, no pity
Lightened on each tender bud
Straining higher, from the City
Dark with its defiling mud;
Everything turned hostile, corners
Wounded her with cruel fangs,
Struck her posts, and scowl of scorners
Pierced her worse with secret pangs;
All against her set conspiring,
Gave her bitter touch or tones,
Leagued to mock her least desiring,
Stocks and stones.
Lightened on each tender bud
Straining higher, from the City
Dark with its defiling mud;
Everything turned hostile, corners
Wounded her with cruel fangs,
Struck her posts, and scowl of scorners
Pierced her worse with secret pangs;
All against her set conspiring,
Gave her bitter touch or tones,
Leagued to mock her least desiring,
Stocks and stones.
Nothing prospered, save her beauty
Yet assuming richer gloom,
Shining from the shadowed duty
Done, as flowers unfold in gloom;
Earth looked dim, and Heaven more dreary
Frowned upon the trembling shoot,
Shut from happier worlds, and weary
Climbing though with starvéd root;
Till, when wandering lost and lonely
Death the angel by the hand
Took her, since her life was only
Built on sand.
Yet assuming richer gloom,
Shining from the shadowed duty
Done, as flowers unfold in gloom;
Earth looked dim, and Heaven more dreary
Frowned upon the trembling shoot,
Shut from happier worlds, and weary
Climbing though with starvéd root;
Till, when wandering lost and lonely
Death the angel by the hand
Took her, since her life was only
Built on sand.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |