Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ENIGMA: 11 by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

First Line: I AM A REWARD, AND A PUNISHMENT TOO
Last Line: OR COUNSEL WILL INTO ME PUT YOU INDEED.
Subject(s): BOXES;
I AM a reward, and a punishment too,
What you may give, and what you may do,
Animal, mineral, both I may be,
Vegetable oftenest perhaps of the three.
Once, I know, as the story goes,
I was the cause of a bridegroom's woes;
But often since I have dimmed the life
Of a wearily-sighing neglected wife.
Never a court without me was seen,
Never a vestry either, I ween,
Never a coach, and never a train,
Tho' sometimes a hindrance the latter to gain.
Famous I am for a long dark way,
Dismal as night in the brightest day.
From the depths of my bosom may rise and float
Many a soft and melodious note;
Why should ye marvel? The rich and fair,
The gay and gorgeous are often there.
Wherever the sweetest of sounds goes forth
Through the radiant south or the dreary north,
A tale of me will be surely told,
Or false were the words of a prophecy old.
A little one longs to begin to do good,
I sometimes help it, and always could;
Yet the hardened man and the cruel boy
May find in me a savage joy.
Give me, and oh, what a monster you'll be;
Refuse me, 'was e'er such a niggard as he;'
Hire me, then you are rich, I conclude;
Mount me, and then you may view and be viewed;
Open me, perhaps you are even a thief,
Perhaps 'twas by way of consoling your grief;
Plant me, I see you are neat in your taste;
Enter me—nervousness, flurry, and haste
Won't at all suit, so I pray you take heed,
Or counsel will into me put you indeed.



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