 | New poems by Madison Cawein |  |
SERVICE
Here is a tale for proper men and virgins:There was a woman once who had a daughter,
A fair-faced wench, as stable as is water,
And frailer than the first spring flower that burgeons.
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Thought it more suitable, and circumspectly
Put her with gentlefolks, where, indirectly,
She rose in service as has many another.
The house she served in soon became divided:
The wife and husband parted, with some scandal:
But she remained and, in the end, was married.
What happened then?—You'll say, “The girl decided
She loved another.”—Nay; not so. The vandal
Wrecked no more homes but lived a life unvaried.
| New poems by Madison Cawein | |