102
ONE OF LIFE'S MISTAKES.
Oh, those were days stolen from Heaven's delights!
I walked on flowers, and trod enchanted heights,
Whose airs were balm, whose walls were chrysolites.
I walked on flowers, and trod enchanted heights,
Whose airs were balm, whose walls were chrysolites.
She smiles upon me now, and keeps away
From him, because she minds her vows alway;
And unto me she gave herself for aye.
From him, because she minds her vows alway;
And unto me she gave herself for aye.
He came among us, handsome, frank, and free;
His manly beauty strangely won on me,—
Ah! had I seen th' inevitable To-Be!
His manly beauty strangely won on me,—
Ah! had I seen th' inevitable To-Be!
I saw them when they met. She grew as white
As graveyard marble, in the cold moonlight,
That through the oriel window fell so bright.
As graveyard marble, in the cold moonlight,
That through the oriel window fell so bright.
He touched her fingers; bowed his stately head;
I saw his swart cheek flush with burning red,
And she—the royal woman I had wed—
I saw his swart cheek flush with burning red,
And she—the royal woman I had wed—
She turned from him with fine, exquisite scorn,
E'en while her brow glowed like the brow of morn;
And I stole out, and wished myself unborn!
E'en while her brow glowed like the brow of morn;
And I stole out, and wished myself unborn!
He flirts and trifles with the gay young girls,—
Admires their eyes, and twines their pretty curls,
And tells them that their teeth are like white pearls.
Admires their eyes, and twines their pretty curls,
And tells them that their teeth are like white pearls.
But when he meets her, all the nobler sense
Of his starved soul flames up in power intense!
Well, who knows what may be a century hence?
Of his starved soul flames up in power intense!
Well, who knows what may be a century hence?
