AMABEL

I marked her ruined hues,

Her custom-straitened views,

And asked, “Can there indwell

My Amabel?”

I looked upon her gown,

Once rose, now earthen brown;

The change was like the knell

Of Amabel.

Her step's mechanic ways

Had lost the life of May's;

Her laugh, once sweet in swell,

Spoilt Amabel.

I mused: “Who sings the strain

I sang ere warmth did wane?

Who thinks its numbers spell

His Amabel?” -

Knowing that, though Love cease,

Love's race shows undecrease;

All find in dorp or dell

An Amabel.

- I felt that I could creep

To some housetop, and weep,

That Time the tyrant fell

Ruled Amabel!

I said ( the while I sighed

That love like ours had died ),

“Fond things I'll no more tell

To Amabel,

“But leave her to her fate,

And fling across the gate,

‘ Till the Last Trump, farewell,

O Amabel!’”