 |
|
 | Studies in verse (1865) |  |
And something came upon the widow's mind
To speak, and move this easy-natured drone
To make his wealthy brother take her son
As clerk, or what he would, into his house.
Were they not both her kinsmen and the lad's?
But he, annoyed at her still vehement voice
And earnest iteration, and the vast
Pathetic human passion of her eyes,
Shrunk back into his shell of apathy;
As the snail shrinks when its nice tentacles
Retractile light with hateful substances.
Yet still the mother voice importunate
Beat on his armour of reserve, until
He promised everything to be at rest
From her emotion, jarring on his mood;
And thought one letter penned a slender price
To be again as he had been, before
Her serious voice, among his easy dreams.
To speak, and move this easy-natured drone
To make his wealthy brother take her son
As clerk, or what he would, into his house.
33
But he, annoyed at her still vehement voice
And earnest iteration, and the vast
Pathetic human passion of her eyes,
Shrunk back into his shell of apathy;
As the snail shrinks when its nice tentacles
Retractile light with hateful substances.
Yet still the mother voice importunate
Beat on his armour of reserve, until
He promised everything to be at rest
From her emotion, jarring on his mood;
And thought one letter penned a slender price
To be again as he had been, before
Her serious voice, among his easy dreams.
| Studies in verse (1865) | |