Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE BRINK, by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY Poet's Biography First Line: I watch'd her as she stoop'd to pluck Last Line: And that's the moral. Subject(s): Ingenuity | ||||||||
I WATCHED her as she stooped to pluck A wild flower in her hair to twine; And wished that it had been my luck To call her mine; Anon I heard her rate with mad, Mad words her babe within its cot, And felt particularly glad That it had not. I knew (such subtle brains have men!) That she was uttering what she shouldn't; And thought that I would chide, and then I thought I wouldn't. Few could have gazed upon that face, Those pouting coral lips, and chided: A Rhadamanthus, in my place, Had done as I did. For wrath with which our bosoms glow Is chained there oft by Beauty's spell; And, more than that, I did not know The widow well. So the harsh phrase passed unreproved: Still mute -- (O brothers, was it sin?) -- I drank unutterably moved, Her beauty in. And to myself I murmured low, As on her upturned face and dress The moonlight fell, "Would she say No, -- By chance, or Yes?" She stood so calm, so like a ghost, Betwixt me and that magic moon, That I already was almost A finished coon. But when she caught adroitly up And soothed with smiles her little daughter; And gave it, if I'm right, a sup Of barley-water; And, crooning still the strange, sweet lore Which only mothers' tongues can utter, Snowed with deft hand the sugar o'er Its bread-and-butter; And kissed it clingingly (ah, why Don't women do these things in private?) -- I felt that if I lost her, I Should not survive it. And from my mouth the words nigh flew, -- The past, the future, I forgat 'em, -- "Oh, if you'd kiss me as you do That thankless atom!" But this thought came ere yet I spake, And froze the sentence on my lips: "They err who marry wives that make Those little slips." It came like some familiar rhyme, Some copy to my boyhood set; And that's perhaps the reason I'm Unmarried yet. Would she have owned how pleased she was, And told her love with widow's pride? I never found out that, because I never tried. Be kind to babes and beasts and birds, Hearts may be hard though lips are coral; And angry words are angry words: And that's the moral. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE TO A HUMAN HEART by SAMUEL LAMAN BLANCHARD THE LAWYER'S INVOCATION TO SPRING by HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL DISASTER by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY MOTHERHOOD by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY METRICAL FEET by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE NOCTURNAL SKETCH; BLANK VERSE IN RHYME by THOMAS HOOD BALLADE OF BLUE CHINA by ANDREW LANG THE V-A-S-E by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE RAILROAD RHYME by JOHN GODFREY SAXE HIC VIR, HIC EST' by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY |
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