 | Romance and revery |  |
92
HYPOCRITES.
I and my neighbor met to-day
Outside our gates, on the common way.
Outside our gates, on the common way.
My neighbor babbled in pleasant wise,
With smiling lips and with smiling eyes.
With smiling lips and with smiling eyes.
I for answer was all as gay,
Meeting her there on the common way.
Meeting her there on the common way.
But she, behind her smile, I know,
Felt the curse of a wasting woe,
Felt the curse of a wasting woe,
Since now not many days gone by,
Her harlot daughter came home to die. ...
Her harlot daughter came home to die. ...
Yet we were masked with an equal skill;
For seeming happy, I had no will
For seeming happy, I had no will
To strip the gown from my breast and show
The mark of my husband's drunken blow!
The mark of my husband's drunken blow!
| Romance and revery | |