 | Women must weep |  |
147
THE MAIDEN MARTYR.
Sweet and soft,
Soft and sweet,
She went forth to the place where the pleasures meet,
Like the rainbow blooms in a summer croft,
Dream'd about oft,
Now at her feet,
All the wonder of shop and work of street,
And the palaces reared aloft;
Soft and sweet,
Sweet and soft,
Oh, she heard not the ribald voice that scoft,
And she saw but the face that seem'd to greet,
Not the masking doft,
With the ashes and the penance-sheet.
Soft and sweet,
She went forth to the place where the pleasures meet,
Like the rainbow blooms in a summer croft,
Dream'd about oft,
Now at her feet,
All the wonder of shop and work of street,
And the palaces reared aloft;
Soft and sweet,
Sweet and soft,
Oh, she heard not the ribald voice that scoft,
And she saw but the face that seem'd to greet,
Not the masking doft,
With the ashes and the penance-sheet.
Bright and pure,
Pure and bright,
Like a butterfly wandering forth in night,
Which imagines the glaring gas-lit lure
Sunshine and sure,
Heavenly light,
She had never dream'd of the woes that blight,
And the bane beyond a cure;
Pure and bright,
Bright and pure,
Just a moment's jest she could endure,
Nor had reck'd of days in dreary flight,
That would not inure
The poor sinner to her outcast plight.
Pure and bright,
Like a butterfly wandering forth in night,
Which imagines the glaring gas-lit lure
Sunshine and sure,
Heavenly light,
She had never dream'd of the woes that blight,
And the bane beyond a cure;
Pure and bright,
Bright and pure,
Just a moment's jest she could endure,
Nor had reck'd of days in dreary flight,
That would not inure
The poor sinner to her outcast plight.
Fond and fair,
Fair and fond,
She had lightly taken the part scarce conn'd,
In her innocent thirst for a larger air,
Tricking the hair,
Bursting its bond,
For the last mad plunge in the muddy pond,
Or the slide down the slaughter-stair;
Fair and fond,
Fond and fair,
She had enter'd the lustful monster's lair,
Which was veil'd in flowers by magic wand,
With its black despair,
And the murderous sacrifice beyond.
Fair and fond,
She had lightly taken the part scarce conn'd,
In her innocent thirst for a larger air,
Tricking the hair,
Bursting its bond,
For the last mad plunge in the muddy pond,
148
Fair and fond,
Fond and fair,
She had enter'd the lustful monster's lair,
Which was veil'd in flowers by magic wand,
With its black despair,
And the murderous sacrifice beyond.
Glad and coy,
Cosy and glad,
As a child who holiday ne'er has had,
In the gentle flush of her maiden joy,
Finding a toy
New among sad,
She went tripping in tender meekness clad,
As to feasts that could not cloy;
Cloy and glad,
Glad and coy,
Like a sailor who holds a sinking buoy,
She had trusted a world unproved and bad,
And that would destroy,
Though its ghosts unlaid in darkness gad.
Cosy and glad,
As a child who holiday ne'er has had,
In the gentle flush of her maiden joy,
Finding a toy
New among sad,
She went tripping in tender meekness clad,
As to feasts that could not cloy;
Cloy and glad,
Glad and coy,
Like a sailor who holds a sinking buoy,
She had trusted a world unproved and bad,
And that would destroy,
Though its ghosts unlaid in darkness gad.
| Women must weep | |