[“]You will not touch it? In God’s name
Who are you, and what are you, then?
Come, take this gold, and be of men,—
A human form with human aim.
“Yea, take this gold,—she must be mine
She shall be mine! I do not fear
Your scowl, your scorn, your soul austere,
The living, dead, or your dark sign.
“I saw her as she entered there;
I saw her, and uncovered stood:
The perfume of her womanhood
Was holy incense on the air.
“She left behind sweet sanctity,
Religion lay the way she went;
I cried I would repent, repent!
She passed on, all unheeding me.
“Her soul is young, her eyes are bright
And gladsome, as mine own are dim;
But, oh, I felt my senses swim
The time she passed me by to-night!—
“The time she passed, nor raised her eyes
To hear me cry I would repent,
Nor turned her head to hear my cries,
But swifter went the way she went,—
“Went swift as youth, for all these years!
And this the strangest thing appears,
That lady there seems just the same,—
Sweet Gladys— Ah! you know her name?
“You hear her name and start that I
Should name her dear name trembling so?
Why, boy, when I shall come to die
That name shall be the last I know.
“That name shall be the last sweet name
My lips shall utter in this life!
That name is brighter than bright flame,—
That lady is my wedded wife!
“Ah, start and catch your burning breath!
Ah, start and clutch your deadly knife!
If this be death, then be it death,—
But that loved lady is my wife!