Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold By "F. Harald Williams"[i.e. F. W. O. Ward]. First Edition |
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FLO. |
 | Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold |  |
FLO.
In her face she is merry
And brown as a berry,
But not
In the heart that is withered and worn
And so fretted away, by the thorn
And the spot
Of the infamous lot
That has never a morn;
If at times in the drought of her trials and troubles,
Like a spring in the desert her young spirit bubbles;
Though the fault of poor Flo
Is, she cannot say no.
And brown as a berry,
But not
In the heart that is withered and worn
And so fretted away, by the thorn
And the spot
Of the infamous lot
That has never a morn;
If at times in the drought of her trials and troubles,
Like a spring in the desert her young spirit bubbles;
Though the fault of poor Flo
Is, she cannot say no.
540
I can see rarest beauty
In striving at duty,
Through rags
Of the Pariah outcast and lone
With a pillow of straw or a stone,
And in hags
Wrecked on pitiless crags
And the law's cruel throne;
And I mark in this plaything of wind and the weather,
Mere weakness (not wickedness) tost as a feather;
The mischief in Flo
Is above, not below.
In striving at duty,
Through rags
Of the Pariah outcast and lone
With a pillow of straw or a stone,
And in hags
Wrecked on pitiless crags
And the law's cruel throne;
And I mark in this plaything of wind and the weather,
Mere weakness (not wickedness) tost as a feather;
The mischief in Flo
Is above, not below.
She is fickle and fragile,
A gipsy, and agile
Of limb
Like a graceful and sinuous pard;
Though her forehead shows years have been hard
And no whim,
But as breakers to swim
In and leaving her scarr'd;
While her coral lips often turn weary and white,
And are puckered with care and the world's coward spite;
But a hero is Flo,
Whatsoever blasts blow.
A gipsy, and agile
Of limb
Like a graceful and sinuous pard;
Though her forehead shows years have been hard
And no whim,
But as breakers to swim
In and leaving her scarr'd;
While her coral lips often turn weary and white,
And are puckered with care and the world's coward spite;
But a hero is Flo,
Whatsoever blasts blow.
She has toppled and tumbled,
And staggered and stumbled
In strife,
And then risen up laughing through tears
In the shadow of death and its fears,
When its knife
Has been stabbing her life
And her thoughts have been spears;
But in teeth of her torturing needs for the day,
From the darkness and doom comes redeeming a ray,
And on down-trodden Flo
Filters some of its glow.
And staggered and stumbled
In strife,
And then risen up laughing through tears
In the shadow of death and its fears,
When its knife
Has been stabbing her life
And her thoughts have been spears;
But in teeth of her torturing needs for the day,
From the darkness and doom comes redeeming a ray,
And on down-trodden Flo
Filters some of its glow.
| Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold | |