Poetry.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 12, 13 January 1877, Page 1

Poetry.

ABBANDONATA. SiDE by side they sat together, /Speaking low, inaudible w. rds, Like the tremulous coo of amorous birds Out in the soft white weather. His: finger was twined in her straw-gold hair, HiC eye looked deep in, her large grey , .-eye,, -And his face bent forward rapturously, Ashe won his troth frora tbe fair. won her troth ! On the rosy tips Of her ringless hand he gazed awhile, '," Then murmured Yes, with a bashful '-': ' ; smile, [And Ke sealed the troth on her lips. " Ah J then began the perilous game, i. And ohj the hours passed sweetly on, . :.*.: And she saw not his visage weird and '■'•' wan, _ When th£ dusk of the evening came. A shadow fell on his handsome face, -'A cold re^-et was visible there, 'As, muttering a half -inarticulate prayer, He suddenly left the place. • ,He, jveni, and .thence was heard no more, i|^ Till rumour said that, a year from that _.!.•.%» -7 ". . „ He had w.edded, another far away, : To ,whom he was. promised before. The poor forsaken breathed no plaint, But creptinto her secret room, • Andj J-ueeling in the curtained gloom, , She made the ! prayer of a Saint. '. She prayed for him who had left her so, v . She prayed for hor who had taken her , place, ,-.,... And she asked for herself the martyr's grace T J Of patieince in her woe ; ' And then-she put her jewels by, ; She put a mouniing garment on, :■> • -And vowed to live like celibate nun, :In penitence and purity: . Ah ! who shall praise the faithful heart ? Forgotten that could not forget ; Unloved — but ever loving yet ; heroine of a godlike part.. _ O men, 0 men, tl*at reap God's wrath 1 We play with hearts as we play with cards, , -y ' ■■ - .-■?._ And cruelly we plant with shards The artless maiden's path. . Why woo. hearts which we may not wed ? , ; \yhy ; make vows which we cannot keep? -.-. Than .that a slighted maid should weep .^Twere better we were dead ! John Espekance, in "Canadian Monthly."