Women must weep By Prof. F. Harald Williams [i.e. F. W. O. Ward]. First Edition |
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LIGHT AND SHADE—A CONTRAST. |
 | Women must weep |  |
LIGHT AND SHADE—A CONTRAST.
Light.
Splendid in jewels and lace,Noble of features and form,
She swept along in her queenly grace,
Shielded from trouble and storm;
Calm and cold,
As the gold
That flash'd from her fingers, and round her neck
Coil'd like a serpent's kiss,
Coil'd as about to hiss,
On the snowy charms that it could but deck,
That were soft and fair and without a speck,
For she lack'd no earthly bliss.
Shade.
Huddled in rags and dirt,Squalid of mien and frame,
With a wisp of straw about her girt,
Branded with blots of shame;
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Torn and tost,
As a wandering waif by the angry wind;
Hungry and grey and gaunt,
Crush'd by contempt and taunt,
In a world of wealth to her sadness blind,
She crept in the shadow she still could find,
She crawl'd to the leper's haunt.
Light.
Spher'd above cares that press,Honour'd by prince and all,
In the pomp of her hundred-guinea dress,
Broider'd for virtue's pall;
Hard and bright,
As the light
Of the diamonds sparkling in her hair,
Black as the raven's wing,
Black with the deadly sting
Of the creatures that flutter false and fair,
She stept in her pride up the palace stair,
In the sunshine of the spring.
Shade.
Frighten'd and bruis'd, and bentLow by the scornful gust,
As it bit at her faded wrap and rent,
Spatter'd with mire and dust;
Bare of feet,
On the street,
And denied the turnip so freely spread,
Refuse that pigstyes pave,
Hunted by laws that slave,
And begrudged but the lapdog's crust of bread,
Till at length when the broken heart is dead,
She is shot in a pauper's grave.
| Women must weep | |