THE ONE EWE LAMB.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1583, 26 August 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE ONE EWE LAMB.

What bitter words were said to-nijiht Beside my hearthstone desolate ? What "maddening borrow brake the gloom Of tins for-over-haunted room When solemn twilight fell, And I, new-robbed of my delight, Came home waid, all at war with Fate, And deafened by her f nnerol knell ! Before the daisied sods were placed Upon her grave, my one-year wife, Before the blossoms, frc&h and fair, Were hidden from the outer air Upon her coftin-lid, A stranger claimed with awful hastcf The right to weep fo* that spent life, Nor could I those hot tears forbid. He came from far-off land of gold Whose shores the Southern waters lave ; He came to scatter at her feet World wealth and love's to make] complete Their lives with perfect end! To cldim her promise given of old, And found the silence of a grave, Without the right that grave to tend. - And I, to whom they gave her hand, With full assurance of her heart, I, who a year ago laid down The dream of fame that was to crown The scholar's round of toil, And lived to guard my wife ; I stand Aghast, confounded at the part I played, my darling's life to 'spoil. I thought to make her so content, I thought that love must answer love, I spent the wealth that God had given As freely as the' dews of heaven, To beautify • her lot :" " I fenced with love the way she -went, I hung love's canopy above, But now I know she heeded not. 1 She was my wife, she wore my ring, My jewels shone upon hit breast, And while I thought that time would be A friend to my young wife and me, And bind us soul to soul, • Like wandering dove up&n the wing, Her wounded spirit found no rest,' I had no power to make her whole. < One year she went upon her way, The mistress of mine ancient' halls, ' One year she blessed my' quiet life) One year— one little year — my wife, And now'the tale is told ; r I laid'hoV in her griive to-day,' But on thpt grave the shadow' falla^ < . Of one she loved in 1 days ojLpM.'^ " My one ewe lamb!" he'sai^^me, " This evening when the' twulgnt fell, ' ' The poor 'ewe' lamb her , owners sold, ' ' To'thee for shameful greed 'of 'gold, My lamb "that 'thou hasfr slain*; * > ■ JTor it^was death to ( link to thee ' < • ' The bealmg'h^at't'tliat'lbved'in'e 1 well^ *<■ r VAn| shefha^perjafe^'of hfer'gain." ' !<! < ( >" And tlsn'TMJ'ourses me'iiTttifl* grief.': }■•* \O Go'd'frcoVld^nd^cut-sea^oo. V V*""' 1 i^^Bflttbitter^^oru^bringffno'reliei-, ■] ■al'lz-'

i'She was tny'wirej fibe w,6re my ring, •s But now I know she was my slave, 'I know each! tender look and smile " dame from a' * heart that ached the , while For love of one away ; - I oould-not-win that blessed* thing, - Her girlish love— the gift she gave Another in a far off day. He, coining home to claim his wife, Lies prone upon the churchyard sod, And I would" gladly die to~win-"~ - The peace my wife lies folded in. My wife ! my wife ! said I ? Ah, heaven ! the riddle of this life Is hard to read. She is with.God, , - Nor can I claim her though I die. She was my wife, but was not mine. I bought her, as he said, with gold, But in my heart of hearts I am' ' Clean from nil hurt of his ewe lamb : did not steal a wife, ' ' But had no instinct to divine Between a heart free-given or sold ; • And so I wrecked my darling's life. — Exchange,