 | Poems Old and New by Charles D. Bell |  |
LOST!
Lost! Lost! Yes, I tear up the word
From a heart that bleeds at the core;
It gashes and wounds like a sword,
And opens a festering sore.
At my soul a deep trouble is stirr'd,
To be soothed, to be healed, nevermore.
Lost!
From a heart that bleeds at the core;
It gashes and wounds like a sword,
And opens a festering sore.
At my soul a deep trouble is stirr'd,
To be soothed, to be healed, nevermore.
Lost!
Yet the sun shineth on just the same,
It smiles on a world that goes ill;
It looks on at the sin and the shame,
At the crimes that men do at their will,
And tho' it might wrap them in flame,
It rises and sets on them still.
Lost!
It smiles on a world that goes ill;
It looks on at the sin and the shame,
At the crimes that men do at their will,
And tho' it might wrap them in flame,
It rises and sets on them still.
Lost!
132
Thou a man! His likeness I know
Thou dost carry, dost boast a man's power;
“The head of the woman!”—Just so,
And gifted with strength for thy dower.
Well, man! thou art fallen so low,
I, a woman, spurn thee this hour.
Lost!
Thou dost carry, dost boast a man's power;
“The head of the woman!”—Just so,
And gifted with strength for thy dower.
Well, man! thou art fallen so low,
I, a woman, spurn thee this hour.
Lost!
Speak and say, is there not damning wrong
In using your gifts to betray?
You, you in your manhood so strong,
We so weak that we trust what you say;
You treat us just like an old song,
To be used, and then flung away.
Lost!
In using your gifts to betray?
You, you in your manhood so strong,
We so weak that we trust what you say;
You treat us just like an old song,
To be used, and then flung away.
Lost!
Say what sin is so devilish as this?
To drag down a soul to the dust,
Like Judas, betray with a kiss;
All for what? For a fancy? a lust?
And thus, with the serpent's cold hiss,
To repay too confiding a trust.
Lost!
To drag down a soul to the dust,
Like Judas, betray with a kiss;
All for what? For a fancy? a lust?
And thus, with the serpent's cold hiss,
To repay too confiding a trust.
Lost!
Thou didst lie on a woman's pure breast,
Who gave thee thy life by her pain,
Her lullaby sung thee to rest,
On thy lips fell her kisses like rain.
By the heart to which thou wast prest,
Fear'd thou not woman's love to profane?
Lost!
Who gave thee thy life by her pain,
Her lullaby sung thee to rest,
On thy lips fell her kisses like rain.
133
Fear'd thou not woman's love to profane?
Lost!
Thy mother! Ah, yes, grasp the thought!
Give it place in thy mind—hold it there;
Think! Her womanhood all set at naught,
Thou a woman to injure didst dare.
That motherhood dropt and forgot,
Thou didst wrong the same nature she bare.
Lost!
Give it place in thy mind—hold it there;
Think! Her womanhood all set at naught,
Thou a woman to injure didst dare.
That motherhood dropt and forgot,
Thou didst wrong the same nature she bare.
Lost!
But what is our anguish to you?
The world will condone, ay, it will;—
Will flatter and fawn, this is true,
And smile down all thought of the ill;
Perhaps for your friendship will sue,
And with greetings will welcome you still.
Lost!
The world will condone, ay, it will;—
Will flatter and fawn, this is true,
And smile down all thought of the ill;
Perhaps for your friendship will sue,
And with greetings will welcome you still.
Lost!
'Tis the part of a coward to lie,
Tho' thou think'st it little, forsooth!
Thou forgettest there lives in yon sky
A God full of justice and ruth.
And what wilt thou say in reply,
When thou stand'st to be judged by His truth?
Lost!
Tho' thou think'st it little, forsooth!
Thou forgettest there lives in yon sky
A God full of justice and ruth.
And what wilt thou say in reply,
When thou stand'st to be judged by His truth?
Lost!
134
Ah, that God did hear thy false vow,
To give her thy hand and thy name!
Tho', dastard, thou shrink'st from it now,
And art dead to all feelings of shame.
Let the brand of a Cain mark thy brow,
And burn in thy heart like a flame.
Lost!
To give her thy hand and thy name!
Tho', dastard, thou shrink'st from it now,
And art dead to all feelings of shame.
Let the brand of a Cain mark thy brow,
And burn in thy heart like a flame.
Lost!
Ah! where is she now? Canst thou tell?
She thou didst lure by thy love?
Love! Ay, thou didst love her as well
As the ravenous vulture the dove.
Where? On the streets? or in hell?
Answer Him who judgeth above.
Lost!
She thou didst lure by thy love?
Love! Ay, thou didst love her as well
As the ravenous vulture the dove.
Where? On the streets? or in hell?
Answer Him who judgeth above.
Lost!
See! She creeps to the black river-side,
Where the waters flow silently on,
Her guilt and her anguish to hide
From the light and the sight of the sun;
To be borne to God's Bar on the tide,
There to stand all despairing, undone.
Lost!
Where the waters flow silently on,
Her guilt and her anguish to hide
From the light and the sight of the sun;
To be borne to God's Bar on the tide,
There to stand all despairing, undone.
Lost!
Had I seen her swathed in her shroud,
Stiff and cold, with a face wan and white,
I had wept, but not clamoured aloud;
And, tho' from my home gone the light,
My heart and my head I had bowed,
And said, thro' my tears, “All is right.”
Lost!
Stiff and cold, with a face wan and white,
I had wept, but not clamoured aloud;
And, tho' from my home gone the light,
135
And said, thro' my tears, “All is right.”
Lost!
O great God! how long wilt Thou brook
Earth's vices, her wrongs and her shame?
O just God! how long wilt Thou look
On the sins that are done 'gainst Thy name?
It is time 'neath Thy wrath the world shook;
Why flash not Thy lightnings in flame?
Lost!
Earth's vices, her wrongs and her shame?
O just God! how long wilt Thou look
On the sins that are done 'gainst Thy name?
It is time 'neath Thy wrath the world shook;
Why flash not Thy lightnings in flame?
Lost!
But no more. This only I say:
With the stain of such guilt on thy soul,
Man! what wilt thou do in the day
When God's thunders shall over thee roll,
And thou'lt shrink self-condemned in dismay,
And thy lies shrivel up like a scroll?
Lost!
With the stain of such guilt on thy soul,
Man! what wilt thou do in the day
When God's thunders shall over thee roll,
And thou'lt shrink self-condemned in dismay,
And thy lies shrivel up like a scroll?
Lost!
Ah, yes, thou shalt meet with her there!
And God's justice those lips shall compel
The truth, the whole truth, to declare,
And confess thro' thy falsehood she fell.
In her eyes thou shalt read thy despair,
From her tongue hear thy sentence of hell.
Lost!
And God's justice those lips shall compel
The truth, the whole truth, to declare,
And confess thro' thy falsehood she fell.
In her eyes thou shalt read thy despair,
From her tongue hear thy sentence of hell.
Lost!
| Poems Old and New by Charles D. Bell | |