An Epic of Women, and Other Poems

BY ARTHUR W. E. O’SHAUGHNESSY. LONDON: JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. 1870.


I Dedicate this Book TO MY FRIEND, J O H N P A Y N E.




Des voluptés intérieures Le sourire mystérieux. Victor Hugo.
A COMMON folk I walk among; I speak dull things in their own tongue: But all the while within I hear A song I do not sing for fear— How sweet, how different a thing! And when I come where none are near I open all my heart and sing.
I am made one with these indeed, And give them all the love they need— Such love as they would have of me: But in my heart—ah, let it be!— I think of it when none is nigh— There is a love they shall not see; For it I live—for it will die.