That saw her dreadful death, Shriek out with her dying breath. THE HUGUENOT LOVERS THE HUGUENOT LOVERS Sorrowful pleading on her face is written With love commingled, and my heart throbs fast, Flooded with currents of a deep emotion Stirred by the memory of that awful past. Note the sad gaze of him who bends above her, What say his eyes in answer to her own? What did he think as tenderly he kissed her? What was the meaning of his whispered tone? Spoke he of honor's claim poor love's outweighing, Or did her circling arms so well enfold That the white kerchief wearing-badge of safety— He passed the lurking foe with spirit bold. Ah, they are vanished now—the maid and lover, Their history the wisest cannot tell. Mayhap upon that night of cruel slaughter, Eager to meet the zealot's hate he fell. Mayhap in some fair corner of the Kingdom, Under the gentler rule of brave Navarre, They showed the kerchief to their children's children, And told the story of the unholy war. [27] [27] TO JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE TO JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE Gay Summer sees the flowering Of buds that were the gift of Spring; And Winter counts the ripened sheaves That Autumn harvested. Who grieves When he at length has won the race, Or backward then his way would trace? Oh, honored Poet, Wit, and Sage, This birthday marks an open page, And here before its record's writ, These words we would inscribe on it. "Thou, upon whom thy years fourscore So lightly sit, thou hast a store Of memories such as they alone May have whose hearts all truth have known. Now may this year bring thee no less Than all the past of happiness!" (On his eightieth birthday.) (On his eightieth birthday.) WEED OR FLOWER WEED OR FLOWER "'Tis but a common thing," one coldly said, "Nay, call it not a flower—this little weed, If plucking it, I kill it, root and seed— Better the world were if it lay there dead." "Ah—rather let it live!" a second cried, "Weed it may be, and yet it has its use, Here in its healing essence its excuse For blooming lies, and here its only pride." "Destroy it not!" another pled, "Behold This tapering leaf—this soft and tender
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