Forgiven.

I might have met his anger with a smile
    For so it was that I had set my heart
To mask deception with a wanton's guile,
    And save the tears that now begin to start.

I might have worn my guilty crown of thorn,--
    Yea, even worn it gladly like a prize;
But, oh! more bitter than his rage or scorn,
    He left me with forgiveness in his eyes.

Charles Hamilton Musgrove

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Charles Hamilton Musgrove

Quatrains.

Charles Hamilton Musgrove, Simple Poetry

De Profundis.

Charles Hamilton Musgrove, Simple Poetry

The Woman Answers.

Charles Hamilton Musgrove, Simple Poetry

The Eagle And The Flower.

Charles Hamilton Musgrove, Simple Poetry

English

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To C. 33.

(Oscar Wilde.)


I gazed upon thee desolate and heard
    Thine anguished cry when fell the iron gin
That all but broke thy soul, yet gave thy word
    The strength to ask forgiveness of thy sin.

I saw thee fleeing from the cruel light
    Of thine own fame; I saw thee hide thy face
In alien dust to cover up the blight
    Upon thy brow that time may yet erase.

I knew thy creed, although thy lips were mute;
    I knew the gods thou didst not dare to own;
I knew the Upas poison at the root
    Of thy last flower of song, in prison blown.

And out of all thy woe there came to me
    This miracle of dogma, like a cry:
"No law but freedom for the vagrant bee--
    No love but summer for the butterfly."

Charles Hamilton Musgrove

Atonement.

You were a red rose then, I know,
    Red as her wine--yea, redder still,--
Say rather her blood; and ages ago
    (You know how destiny hath its will)
I placed you deep in her gorgeous hair,
And left you to wither there.

Wine and blood and a red, red rose,--
    Feast and song and a long, long sleep;--
And which of us dreamed at the drama's close
    That the unforgetful years would keep
Our sin and their vengeance laid away
As a gift to this bitter day?

Now you are white as the mountain snow,
    White as the hand that I fold you in,
And none but the angels of God may know
    That either has once been stained with sin;
It was blood and wine in the old, old years,
But now it is only tears.

And so at the end of our several ways

Charles Hamilton Musgrove

De Profundis.

I thought today within the crowded mart
    I saw thee for a moment, friend of mine,
    And all at once my blood leapt fast and fine
And a new light broke on my shadowed heart.
'T was but a moment that my fancy's art
    Moulded another's features into thine,
    For when he passed me by and gave no sign,
The bitter truth came back with sudden start.
Then I remembered how the Merlin spell
    Of waving arms and woven paces bands
Thy dust forever in its four-walled cell,
    Heedless of all except thy Seer's commands--
Holds thee enraptured with the charms that dwell
    In broken paces and in folded hands.

Charles Hamilton Musgrove

The Woman Answers.

What will I say when face to face with God
My naked soul shall come, seared with the stain
That men call sin? Why, God will understand;
He knew my pitiful story long before
My frail dust quickened with the breath of life;
He knew the mystery of that day of days
When, thrilled with virgin wonder, I should come
Bearing the lily of my stainless love
To plant upon the desert of desire.
I do not fear His judgment; He knows all.

I do not fear His judgment lest it be
That I shall look no more upon his face
Who taught my heart to love; and, surely, One
Who wrought a perfect note from these poor strings
Will not condemn to discord when the strain
Has reached the fullness of its harmony.

I do not fear His judgment, but I weep
For him who slew the lily w...

Charles Hamilton Musgrove

The Confession.

I am glad that you have come,
    Arthur, from the dusty town;
You must throw aside your cares,
    And relax your legal frown.
Coke and Littleton, avaunt!
    You have ruled him through the day;
In this quiet, sylvan haunt,
    Be content to yield your sway.

It is pleasant, is it not,
    Sitting here beneath the trees,
While the restless wind above
    Ripples over leafy seas?

Often, when the twilight falls,
    In the shadow, quite alone,
I have sat till starlight came,
    Listening to its monotone.
Yet not always quite alone,--
    Brother, let me take the place
Just behind you now the moon
    Shines no longer in my face.

It is near two months ago
    Since I met him, as I think,
By God's mercy, when my hor...

Horatio Alger, Jr.

Remorse.

None ever knew I had wronged her,
That secret she kept to the end.
None knew that our ties had been stronger,
Than such as should bind friend to friend.
Her beauty and innocence gave her
Such charms as are lavished on few;
And vain was my earnest endeavour
To resist, - though I strove to be true.

She had given her heart to my keeping, -
'Twas a treasure more precious than gold;
And I guarded it, waking or sleeping,
Lest a strange breath should make it grow cold.
And I longed to be tender, yet honest, -
Alas! loved, - where to love was a sin, -
And passion was deaf to the warning,
Of a still small voice crying within.

I feasted my eyes on her beauty, -
I ravished my ears with her voice, -
And I felt as her bosom rose softly,
That my h...

John Hartley