Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOOD LUCK, by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOOD LUCK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My daughter, be the rich man's wife, / provided then thou'll be for life
Last Line: "how small a price brides bring!"
Subject(s): Marriage; Wealth; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Riches; Fortunes


MY daughter, be the rich man's wife,
Provided then thou 'lt be for life,
And need not hunger more.
His house can with a castle vie,
His purse is full, his standing high,
His fields with sheaves run o'er.

Two dresses he has also brought;
This hat -- isn't it splendid? -- bought.
How fine your clothes will be!
I'll joy in your good fortune, too,
While thinking of the poor girls who
Envy your finery.

The lovely child, with cheeks as pale
As cherry blooms which young boughs veil,
Looks downward dreamily.
O tender bud in morn's soft glow,
Not yet love's fervor dost thou know,
Thy heart is calm and free!

She sees the gewgaws, the tale hears
Her mother dins into her ears, --
Life will be joy alone.
And almost ere she is aware
Before the altar stand the pair:
Her "Yes" has made them one.

She trembles with a thrill of fear
When bends her husband's gray head near,
And she his kiss doth wait.
A curious custom't is, in sooth,
To give cold age the bloom of youth, --
Winter and Spring to mate.

Fair, very fair, she looks, and good, --
Girl-wife with face like milk and blood, --
Faithful in all is she.
Her eyes, of heaven's deepest blue,
No tears dim with their misty dew,
No shapes of horror see.

Her lips smile as in former days,
Not e'en a whisper e'er betrays
If her chains burn like flame.
Though't were in the confessional,
No word of disrespect doth fall
Blent with her husband's name.

Only when, shut within her room,
She opes her closet door, doth come
Cry shrill as lyre's snapped string:
"Two dresses and a showy hat, --
My mother thought me worth just that!
How small a price brides bring!"





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