Select Poetry.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2720, 4 November 1871, Page 3

Select Poetry.

THE SHADOW ON THE WALL. (From the A ustralciskin.) My home a stately dwelling is, "With lofty arching doors ; There is carving on the ceilings high, And velvet on the floors ; A rich and costly building, Where noiseless servants wait, And ’neath the escutcheon’s gilding None enter but the great. But a happier home is near it, a humble cottage small, And I envy its sweet mistress the shadows on her wall. My pictures are the pride of Art, And drawn by cunning hands ; But the painted figures never move, Nor change the painted lauds ; Before the poorest window More gorgeous' pageants glide, Within the lowliest household More lift-like groups abide ; And I turn from soulless symbols, that crowd my gloomy r hall, To watch the shifting shadows upon the cottage wall. My stately husband never bends . 'To kiss me on the lips ; His heart is in his iron safe, : ilia thoughts are with his ships ; But when the twilight gathers Adown the dusky street, The little housewife listens For sounds of coming feet; And by the gleaming firelight I see a figure tail , , Bend down to kiss a shadow, a shadow on the wall. My garden palings, broad and high, Shut in its costly spoils, And through the ordered paths all day The silent gardener toils ; My neighbor’s is a grass-plat. With a hardy buttercup, Where children’s dimpled lingers Pull dandelions up— Where on a baby’s silken head, all day the supbeams fall, Till evening throws its shadows upon the cottage wall. My petted lapdog, warm and soft, Nestles upon my knee ; My birds have shut their diamond eyes That love to look for me ; Lonely 1 watch my neighbor. And watching can but weep, To see her rook her darlings Upon her breast asleep. Alas! my doves are gentle, my dog comes at my call, But there is no childish shadow upon my chamber wall. My beauty is the talk of fools, ; And by the gaslight’s glare, Jn glittering dress and gleaming gems, > I know that I am fair ; But there is-aoraething fairer, I Whose charm in'loving lies, And there is something dearer, The light of happy eyes. So I return triumphant, queen of the brilL liant ball, To envy the sweet shadow of the housewife ] on the wall. My earthly lot is rich qnd high, And hers is poor and low j Yet I would give my heritage Her deeper joys to know ; For husbands that are lovers Are rare in all the lands, And hearts grow fit for heaven, Moulded by childish hands. Aud while I go up lonely, before the Judge of all, A cherub troop will usher the shadow on the wall.