 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
THE FIRST IDOL.
When I was young and radiant were the years,
I made an idol for my soul to serve,
I watered it with soft delicious tears,
And hedged its home with colour and with curve;
I made an idol for my soul to serve,
I watered it with soft delicious tears,
And hedged its home with colour and with curve;
I wrung a tribute from my very fears,
And so I plied with every pulse and nerve,
That griefs at last from homage did not swerve,
And swelled its sweetness with their long arrears.
And so I plied with every pulse and nerve,
That griefs at last from homage did not swerve,
And swelled its sweetness with their long arrears.
Then came the Fates to see my foolish bower,
By storms of trouble never torn nor tost,
Nor by the cloud of suffering to be crost;
By storms of trouble never torn nor tost,
Nor by the cloud of suffering to be crost;
And in the compass of a little hour,
When fortune smiled in all its perfect flower,
I lay among the ruins of the lost.
When fortune smiled in all its perfect flower,
I lay among the ruins of the lost.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |