My heart swelled full of a terrible hatred,
And something of murder was burning there,
But a better feeling stole in behind it
As I looked on the picture sweet and fair;
I turned and left him, and never saw him--
Never looked on his face again,
And time has tempered my shame and sorrow,
And soothed and quieted down my pain.
But I always tremble, in awful anger,
That wears and worries my waning life,
When I think how he clasped me close to his bosom,
He--with a lawfully wedded wife.
When I think how I answered his fond caresses,
And clung to his neck in a trance of bliss,
And the tears of a life time and all my sorrow
Can never remove the stain of his kiss.
[MY SHIP.]
If all the ships I have at sea
Should come a-sailing home to me,
Ah, well! the harbour could not hold
So many sails as there would be
If all my ships came in from sea.
If half my ships came home from sea,
And brought their precious freight to me,
Ah, well! I should have wealth as great
As any king who sits in state--
So rich the treasures that would be
In half my ships now out at sea.
If just one ship I have at sea
Should come a-sailing home to me,
Ah, well! the storm-clouds then might frown
For if the others all went down,
Still rich and proud and glad I'd be
If that one ship came back to me.
If that one ship went down at sea,
And all the others came to me,
Weighed down with gems and wealth untold,
With glory, honours, riches, gold,
The poorest soul on earth I'd be
If that one ship came not to me.
O skies, be calm! O winds, blow free--
Blow all my ships safe home to me!
But if thou sendest some a-wrack,
To never more come sailing back,
Send any--all that skim the sea,
But bring my love-ship home to me.
[FINIS.]
An idle rhyme of the summer time,
Sweet, and solemn, and tender;
Fair with the haze of the moon's pale rays,
Bright with the sunset's splendor.