Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3612, 24 July 1880, Page 1

Select Poetry.

ONLY A WOMAN. Only a woman shrivelled and old! The prey of the winds and the pzey of the cold! Cheeks that are shrunken, Eyes that ate sunken, Lips that were ever •'erbold. Only a woman forsaken and poor, - , ' Asking for alms at the bronze church door. Hark to the organ! % Soil upon roll The wares of the music go over her soul? Silks rustle past her Thicker and faster, The great bell ceaaeth its tolL Fain would she enter, but not for the poor Swingeth wide open the bronze church-door. Only a woman waiting alone—waiting alone, Icily cold, on an ice cold throne. - - What do they care for ? , Mumbling a prayer for her ; Giving not bread but a stone. Under old lace the haughty hearts beat, . Mocking the woes of their kin.in the street. Only a woman! In the old days Hope carolled to her happiest lays j Somebody missed her Somebody kissed her. Somebody crowned her with praist; Somebody faced up the battles of life. Strong for her sake, who was mother and wife. Somebody lies with a tress of her hair Light on his heart where the death shadows we; l Somebody waits for her, Opening the gates f«r her, Giving delight for despair. " '. ■ Only a woman—nevermore poor— . Dead in the snow at the bronze 1 church door!