Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DESERTED WIFE, by JAMES GATES PERCIVAL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DESERTED WIFE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He comes not. - I have watched the moon go down
Last Line: How injured, and how faithful I had been.
Subject(s): Abandonment; Marriage; Desertion; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


HE comes not -- I have watched the moon go down,
But yet he comes not -- Once it was not so.
He thinks not how these bitter tears do flow,
The while he holds his riot in that town.
Yet he will come, and chide, and I shall weep;
And he will wake my infant from its sleep,
To blend its feeble wailing with my tears.
O! how I love a mother's watch to keep,
Over those sleeping eyes, that smile, which cheers
My heart, though sunk in sorrow, fixed and deep.
I had a husband once, who loved me -- now
He ever wears a frown upon his brow,
And feeds his passion on a wanton's lip,
As bees, from laurel flowers, a poison sip;
But yet I cannot hate -- O! there were hours,
When I could hang forever on his eye,
And time, who stole with silent swiftness by,
Strewed, as he hurried on, his path with flowers.
I loved him then -- he loved me too -- My heart
Still finds its fondness kindle, if he smile;
The memory of our loves will ne'er depart;
And though he often sting me with a dart,
Venomed and bared, and waste upon the vile
Caresses, which his babe and mine should share;
Though he should spurn me, I will calmly bear
His madness -- and should sickness come, and lay
Its paralyzing hand upon him, then
I would, with kindness, all my wrongs repay,
Until the penitent should weep, and say,
How injured, and how faithful I had been.





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