 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
MAN'S WOMAN.
Cursing and curséd and fighting,
Filthy without and within
In yet filthier fancies delighting,
Reeking of poisonous gin;
Ragged all up to her chin,
Ragged all down with the writing
Of the dark and the dreadful indicting
Branded by letters of sin;
Haggard and thirsty and thin,
With her horrible thoughts, and the blighting
Of the general slurring and slighting,
Stamped in a maniac grin.
Filthy without and within
In yet filthier fancies delighting,
Reeking of poisonous gin;
Ragged all up to her chin,
Ragged all down with the writing
Of the dark and the dreadful indicting
Branded by letters of sin;
Haggard and thirsty and thin,
With her horrible thoughts, and the blighting
Of the general slurring and slighting,
Stamped in a maniac grin.
Hands that are grimy, and fumbling
Feebly with ill-fitting wraps,
Or the hair that hangs matted and tumbling
Down on the forehead, and flaps
Grimly and just as it haps;
Feet that go straying and stumbling
In tune and in time with her grumbling,
Bursting her slippers, through gaps
Showing the bruises and chaps;
In her ears a great terror of rumbling,
From the starving and struggle and humbling,
Years of brute buffets and slaps.
Feebly with ill-fitting wraps,
Or the hair that hangs matted and tumbling
Down on the forehead, and flaps
Grimly and just as it haps;
Feet that go straying and stumbling
In tune and in time with her grumbling,
Bursting her slippers, through gaps
Showing the bruises and chaps;
In her ears a great terror of rumbling,
From the starving and struggle and humbling,
Years of brute buffets and slaps.
Eyes, that are bloodshot and blinking,
Turned from the sunshine of day,
If it glances where she may be slinking,
Low in the alleys so gray,
Ghastly, no sunshine can stay;
Brain all bemuddled and thinking,
Like a beast, of the next chance of drinking,
Could she discover a way—
Had she a penny to pay—
In the chains of that merciless linking,
And deeper and deeper yet sinking,
Ruin that is but man's play.
Turned from the sunshine of day,
If it glances where she may be slinking,
Low in the alleys so gray,
Ghastly, no sunshine can stay;
Brain all bemuddled and thinking,
Like a beast, of the next chance of drinking,
Could she discover a way—
339
In the chains of that merciless linking,
And deeper and deeper yet sinking,
Ruin that is but man's play.
Heart, that is burnt up with shaming,
Under society's ban,
In the fortune past knowing and naming,
Out of the glorious plan
Meant for the victor, who ran
Bravely a time, and with taming
Of her passions in virginal framing;
Life, which its beautiful span
Spread for the angels to scan,
Now death deformed with the laming
Of its lusts, like hell-fire through it flaming;
Woman, the creature of man.
Under society's ban,
In the fortune past knowing and naming,
Out of the glorious plan
Meant for the victor, who ran
Bravely a time, and with taming
Of her passions in virginal framing;
Life, which its beautiful span
Spread for the angels to scan,
Now death deformed with the laming
Of its lusts, like hell-fire through it flaming;
Woman, the creature of man.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |