Only A Slight Flirtation

'Twas just a slight flirtation,
    And where's the harm, I pray,
In that amusing pastime
    So much in vogue to-day?

Her hand was plighted elsewhere
    To one she held most dear,
But why should she sit lonely
    When other men were near?

They walked to church together,
    They sat upon the shore.
She found him entertaining,
    He found her something more.

They rambled in the moonlight;
    It made her look so fair.
She let him praise her beauty,
    And kiss her flowing hair.

'Twas just a nice flirtation.
    'So sad the fellow died.
Was drowned one day while boating,
    The week she was a bride.'

A life went out in darkness,
    A mother's fond heart broke,
A maiden pined in secret -
    With grief she never spoke.

While robed in bridal whiteness,
    Queen of a festal throng,
She moved, whose slight flirtation
    Had wrought this triple wrong.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet, born on November 5, 1850, and died on October 30, 1919. She was known for her works expressing optimistic views and moral lessons. Her most famous book was 'Poems of Passion'. Her poem 'Solitude' contains the famous lines, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone'. Over her career, Wilcox became popularly known as a 'people's poet'.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

An Episode

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Night.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Fear

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Question

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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What Is Flirtation?

What is flirtation?    Really,
    How can I tell you that?
But when she smiles I see its wiles,
    And when he lifts his hat.

'Tis walking in the moonlight,
    'Tis buttoning on a glove,
'Tis lips that speak of plays next week,
    While eyes are talking love.

'Tis meeting in the ball-room,
    'Tis whirling in the dance;
'Tis something hid beneath the lid
    More than a simple glance.

'Tis lingering in the hallway,
    'Tis sitting on the stair,
'Tis bearded lips on finger-tips,
    If mamma isn't there.

'Tis tucking in the carriage,
    'Tis asking for a call;
'Tis long good-nights in tender lights,
    And that is - no, not all!

'Tis parting when it's over,
    And one goes home to sleep;
Best ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Leaf

Somebody said, in the crowd, last eve,
    That you were married, or soon to be.
I have not thought of you, I believe,
    Since last we parted.    Let me see:
Five long Summers have passed since then -
    Each has been pleasant in its own way -
And you are but one of a dozen men
    Who have played the suitor a Summer day.

But, nevertheless, when I heard your name,
    Coupled with some one's, not my own,
There burned in my bosom a sudden flame,
    That carried me back to the day that is flown.
I was sitting again by the laughing brook,
    With you at my feet, and the sky above,
And my heart was fluttering under your look -
    The unmistakable look of Love.

Again your breath, like a South wind, fanned
    My cheek, where the blushes came ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Bachelor To A Married Flirt

All that a man can say of woman's charms,
    Mine eyes have spoken and my lips have told
To you a thousand times.    Your perfect arms
    (A replica from that lost Melos mould),
The fair firm crescents of your bosom (shown
With full intent to make their splendours known),

Your eyes (that mask with innocence their smile),
    The (artful) artlessness of all your ways,
Your kiss-provoking mouth, its lure, its guile -
    All these have had my fond and frequent praise.
And something more than praise to you I gave -
Something which made you know me as your slave.

Yet slaves, at times, grow mutinous and rebel.
    Here in this morning hour, from you apart,
The mood is on me to be frank and tell
    The thoughts long hidden deep down in my heart.
These...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Leaf.

Somebody said, in the crowd, last eve,
    That you were married, or soon to be.
I have not thought of you, I believe,
    Since last we parted. Let me see:
Five long Summers have passed since then -
    Each has been pleasant in its own way -
And you are but one of a dozen men
    Who have played the suitor a Summer day.

But, nevertheless, when I heard your name,
    Coupled with some one's, not my own,
There burned in my bosom a sudden flame,
    That carried me back to the day that is flown.
I was sitting again by the laughing brook,
    With you at my feet, and the sky above,
And my heart was fluttering under your look -
    The unmistakable look of Love.

Again your breath, like a South wind, fanned
    My cheek, where the blushes came and...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Warned

They stood at the garden gate.
    By the lifting of a lid
She might have read her fate
    In a little thing he did.

He plucked a beautiful flower;
    Tore it away from its place
On the side of the blooming bower;
    And held it against his face.

Drank in its beauty and bloom,
    In the midst of his idle talk;
Then cast it down to the gloom
    And dust of the garden walk.

Ay, trod it under his foot,
    As it lay in his pathway there;
Then spurned it away with his boot,
    Because it bad ceased to be fair.

Ah! the maiden might have read
    The doom of her young life then;
But she looked in his eyes instead,
    And thought him the king of men.

She looked in his eyes and blushed,
    She hid in his s...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Un Rencontre

Now ought we to laugh or to weep -
    Was it comical, or was it grave?
When we who had waded breast deep
    In passion's most turbulent wave
Met out on an isle in Time's ocean,
With never one thrill of emotion.

We had parted in sorrow and tears;
    Our letters were frequent and wet;
We wrote about pitiless years,
    And we swore we could never forget.
An angel you called me alway,
And I thought you a god gone astray.

We met in an everyday style;
    Unmoved by a tremor or start;
Shook hands, smiled a commonplace smile;
    (With a happy new love in each heart),
And I thought you the homeliest man
As you awkwardly picked up my fan!

And I know (or I haven't a doubt)
    Though you did not say so to my face,
That you thou...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox