Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/536
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THE ONE GRAND POINT.
Her little breast with fury beat,
Her reddening cheeks with ire replete,
And eyes that glistened through a tear,
All showed that just revenge was near;
A small shrill voice the silence broke,
And thus the scissors she bespoke:
Her reddening cheeks with ire replete,
And eyes that glistened through a tear,
All showed that just revenge was near;
A small shrill voice the silence broke,
And thus the scissors she bespoke:
"Ill-fated things, my foes to be,
Take now a curse severe from me;
A fatal present ye shall prove,
And cut the silken bands of love;
Where'er the fairies' power extends,
Shall part the dearest, kindest friends,
And all who take such gift shall wail,
The issue of my suffering tale."
This said, a gentle breeze she sipped,
And from the fatal closet tripped:
Through woods and vales to seek around,
A balmy leaf to heal the wound.
1780.
Take now a curse severe from me;
A fatal present ye shall prove,
And cut the silken bands of love;
Where'er the fairies' power extends,
Shall part the dearest, kindest friends,
And all who take such gift shall wail,
The issue of my suffering tale."
This said, a gentle breeze she sipped,
And from the fatal closet tripped:
Through woods and vales to seek around,
A balmy leaf to heal the wound.
1780.
The One Grand Point.
When man and wife,
As oft in life,
Both equally in fault we see.
It needs must strike
That so alike
It's wonderful they can't agree!
As oft in life,
Both equally in fault we see.
It needs must strike
That so alike
It's wonderful they can't agree!
But Dr. Johnson, moral sage,
Reviewed the past and present age,
And ventured to declare,
That marriage (such is hapless fate)
Was clearly an unnatural state,
Which none could calmly bear.
Reviewed the past and present age,
And ventured to declare,
That marriage (such is hapless fate)
Was clearly an unnatural state,
Which none could calmly bear.
"For mark," said he, "what laws are made,
How binding, nothing can evade,
When strifes arise, and stormy weather;
Yet, spite of all the law's dominion,
Custom and force of old opinion
Can scarcely keep the two together."
How binding, nothing can evade,
When strifes arise, and stormy weather;
Yet, spite of all the law's dominion,
Custom and force of old opinion
Can scarcely keep the two together."