THE UNWED MOTHER TO THE WIFE

I had been almost happy for an hour,

Lost to the world that knew me in the park

Among strange faces; while my little girl

Leaped with the squirrels, chirruped with the birds

And with the sunlight glowed. She was so dear,

So beautiful, so sweet; and for the time

The rose of love, shorn of its thorn of shame,

Bloomed in my heart. Then suddenly you passed.

I sat alone upon the public bench;

You, with your lawful husband, rode in state;

And when your eyes fell on me and my child,

They were not eyes, but daggers, poison tipped.

God! how good women slaughter with a look!

And, like cold steel, your glance cut through my heart,

Struck every petal from the rose of love

And left the ragged stalk alive with thorns.

My little one came running to my side

And called me Mother. It was like a blow

Between the eyes; and made me sick with pain.

And then it seemed as if each bird and breeze

Took up the word, and changed its syllables

From Mother into Magdalene; and cried

My shame to all the world.

It was your eyes

Which did all this. But listen now to me

( Not you alone, but all the barren wives

Who, like you, flaunt their virtue in the face

Of fallen women ): I do chance to know

The crimes you think are hidden from all men

( Save one who took your gold and sold his skill

And jeopardized his name for your base ends ).

I know how you have sunk your soul in sense

Like any wanton; and refused to bear

The harvest of your pleasure-planted seed;

I know how you have crushed the tender bud

Which held a soul; how you have blighted it;

And made the holy miracle of birth

A wicked travesty of God's design;

Yea, many buds, which might be blossoms now

And beautify your selfish, arid life,

Have been destroyed, because you chose to keep

The aimless freedom, and the purposeless,

Self-seeking liberty of childless wives.

I was an untaught girl. By nature led,

By love and passion blinded, I became

An unwed mother. You, an honoured wife,

Refuse the crown of motherhood, defy

The laws of nature, and fling baby souls

Back in the face of God. And yet you dare

Call me a sinner, and yourself a saint;

And all the world smiles on you, and its doors

Swing wide at your approach.

I stand outside.

Surely there must be higher courts than earth,

Where you and I will some day meet and be

Weighed by a larger justice.