University of Virginia Library

HISTORY OF A LIE.

Dropt by rose-red lips in play,
Just a word
Told in idle jest that stirr'd
Laughter, and then died away;
Just a moment's mirth, a fleet
Bubble on the stream of life,
Low and little, soft and sweet,
But the seed of lasting strife.
Thus it came
Forth into the world, and had
Hardly substance of a name,
But that it made gossip glad;
With the sound
Of light lisping, and the crisping
Raised by silken frocks and satin
Skirts that seemed to sigh in Latin
With their dim susurrus dear,
Born betwixt a smile and tear;
Yet a Lie,
Though so delicate and simple
And begotten with a dimple,
Owning not a sacred tie.
Thus it went
Up and down and to and fro,
As an erring child might go
If on nought but mischief bent.
In the drawingroom and street
Growing, growing,
Flowing, flowing,
Quick to scandalize and greet
Every comer with its tale,
Blowing, blowing,
To the volume of a gale;
With the patter
Of the multitude of feet
Hurried on at last to meet,
With the chatter
Of a thousand thousand rooks
And a thousand thousand brooks
All a-talking, all a-walking
All together,
Bound by the same common tether
And by one desire to say
What they should not and they would not,
If they trod the truthful way.
Till a trifle light as breath,
By the progress of decay,
Filled the country with its law
And the awe
As of universal death.