A stranger, I threaded sunken-hearted
    A lamp-lit crowd;
And anon there passed me a soul departed,
    Who mutely bowed.
In my far-off youthful years I had met her,
Full-pulsed; but now, no more life’s debtor,
    Onward she slid
  In a shroud that furs half-hid.
“Why do you trouble me, dead woman,
    Trouble me;
You whom I knew when warm and human?
    - How it be
That you quitted earth and are yet upon it
Is, to any who ponder on it,
    Past being read!”
  “Still, it is so,” she said.
“These were my haunts in my olden sprightly
    Hours of breath;
Here I went tempting frail youth nightly
    To their death;
But you deemed me chaste - me, a tinselled sinner!
How thought you one with pureness in her
    Could pace this street
  Eyeing some man to greet?
    A lamp-lit crowd;
And anon there passed me a soul departed,
    Who mutely bowed.
In my far-off youthful years I had met her,
Full-pulsed; but now, no more life’s debtor,
    Onward she slid
  In a shroud that furs half-hid.
“Why do you trouble me, dead woman,
    Trouble me;
You whom I knew when warm and human?
    - How it be
That you quitted earth and are yet upon it
Is, to any who ponder on it,
    Past being read!”
  “Still, it is so,” she said.
“These were my haunts in my olden sprightly
    Hours of breath;
Here I went tempting frail youth nightly
    To their death;
But you deemed me chaste - me, a tinselled sinner!
How thought you one with pureness in her
    Could pace this street
  Eyeing some man to greet?
Comments (0)
The minimum comment length is 50 characters.
Information
Users of Guests are not allowed to comment this publication.
There are no comments yet. You can be the first!