 | The silver bridge and other poems |  |
9
HER SPHERE.
No outward sign her angelhood revealed,
Save that her eyes were wondrous mild and fair,—
The aureole round her forehead was concealed
By the pale glory of her shining hair.
Save that her eyes were wondrous mild and fair,—
The aureole round her forehead was concealed
By the pale glory of her shining hair.
She bore the yoke and wore the name of wife
To one who made her tenderness and grace
A mere convenience of his narrow life,
And put a seraph in a servant's place.
To one who made her tenderness and grace
A mere convenience of his narrow life,
And put a seraph in a servant's place.
She cheered his meagre hearth; she blessed and warmed
His poverty, and met its harsh demands
With meek, unvarying patience, and performed
Its menial tasks with stained and battered hands.
His poverty, and met its harsh demands
With meek, unvarying patience, and performed
Its menial tasks with stained and battered hands.
She nursed his children through their helpless years,—
Gave them her strength, her youth, her beauty's prime,
Bore for them sore privation, toil and tears,
Which made her old and tired before her time.
Gave them her strength, her youth, her beauty's prime,
Bore for them sore privation, toil and tears,
Which made her old and tired before her time.
10
And when fierce fever smote him with its blight,
Her calm, consoling presence charmed his pain;
Through long and thankless watches, day and night,
Her fluttering fingers cooled his face like rain.
Her calm, consoling presence charmed his pain;
Through long and thankless watches, day and night,
Her fluttering fingers cooled his face like rain.
With soft magnetic touch and murmurs sweet,
She brought him sleep, and stilled his fretful moan,
And taught his flying pulses to repeat
The mild and moderate measure of her own.
She brought him sleep, and stilled his fretful moan,
And taught his flying pulses to repeat
The mild and moderate measure of her own.
She had an artist's quick perceptive eyes
For all the beautiful; a poet's heart
For every changing phase of earth and skies,
And all things fair in nature and in art.
For all the beautiful; a poet's heart
For every changing phase of earth and skies,
And all things fair in nature and in art.
She looked with all a woman's keen delight
On jewels rich, and dainty drapery,
Rare fabrics and soft hues,—the happy right
Of those more favored but less fair than she;
On jewels rich, and dainty drapery,
Rare fabrics and soft hues,—the happy right
Of those more favored but less fair than she;
On pallid pearls, which glimmer cool and white,
Dimming proud foreheads with their purity;
On silks, which gleam and ripple in the light,
And shift and shimmer like the summer sea;
Dimming proud foreheads with their purity;
On silks, which gleam and ripple in the light,
And shift and shimmer like the summer sea;
On gems, like drops by sudden sunlight kissed,
When fall the last large brilliants of the rain;
On laces, delicate as frozen mist
Embroidering a winter window-pane:
When fall the last large brilliants of the rain;
11
Embroidering a winter window-pane:
Yet, near the throng of worldly butterflies
She dwelt, a chrysalis, in homely brown;
With costly splendors flaunting in her eyes,
She went her dull way in a gingham gown.
She dwelt, a chrysalis, in homely brown;
With costly splendors flaunting in her eyes,
She went her dull way in a gingham gown.
Hedged in by alien hearts, unloved, alone,
With slender shoulders bowed beneath their load,
She trod the path that Fate had made her own,
Nor met one kindred spirit on the road.
With slender shoulders bowed beneath their load,
She trod the path that Fate had made her own,
Nor met one kindred spirit on the road.
Slowly the years rolled onward; and at last,
When the bruised reed was broken, and her soul
Knew its sad term of earthly bondage past,
And felt its nearness to the heavenly goal,
When the bruised reed was broken, and her soul
Knew its sad term of earthly bondage past,
And felt its nearness to the heavenly goal,
Then a strange gladness filled the tender eyes
Which gazed afar beyond all grief and sin,
And seemed to see the gates of Paradise
Unclosing for her feet to enter in.
Which gazed afar beyond all grief and sin,
And seemed to see the gates of Paradise
Unclosing for her feet to enter in.
Vainly the master she had served so long
Clasped her worn hands, and with remorseful tears,
Cried, “Stay, oh, stay! Forgive my bitter wrong;
Let me atone for all these dreary years!”
Clasped her worn hands, and with remorseful tears,
Cried, “Stay, oh, stay! Forgive my bitter wrong;
Let me atone for all these dreary years!”
12
Alas for heedless hearts and blinded sense!
With what faint welcome and what meagre fare,
What mean subjections and small recompense,
We entertain our angels unaware!
With what faint welcome and what meagre fare,
What mean subjections and small recompense,
We entertain our angels unaware!
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