Her scarlet mouth that smiled,
Mocked lightly at his woe,
And while she would not bid him stay
She did not bid him go.
But hope within him failed
Until he pled no more—
And cold and still he turned his face
Away from her heart's door.
* * * * *
Long were the days she watched
For one who never came;—
Through sleepless nights her white lips bore
The burden of a name.
A SONG OF SUMMER DAYS
As pearls slip off a silken string and fall into the sea,
These rounded summer days fall back into eternity.
Into the deep from whence they came; into the mystery—
At set of sun each one slips back as pearls into the sea.
They are so sweet—so warm and sweet—Love fain would hold them fast:
He weeps when through his finger tips they slip away at last.
AT THE PLAY
Just above the boxes and where the high lights fall
Looketh down a carven face from out the gilded wall.