'T WAS but a breath -- And yet the fair, good name was wilted; And friends once fond grew cold and stilted, And life was worse than death. One venomed word, That struck its coward, poisoned blow, In craven whispers, hushed and low -- And yet the wide world heard. 'T was but one whisper -- one, That muttered low, for very shame, The thing the slanderer dare not name -- And yet its work was done. A hint so slight, And yet so mighty in its power, A human soul in one short hour Lies crushed beneath its blight. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE DEATH OF MR. PURCELL by JOHN DRYDEN ON THE SOUL by PUBLIUS AELIUS HADRIANUS THE LAMPLIGHTER by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT by MARIA ABDY THE PIKER'S RUBAIYAT by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS EPISTLES ON THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF WOMEN: 2 by LUCY AIKEN |