Page:Poems Barrett.djvu/150

Here she paused,—she had been paler at the first word of her speaking;
But because a silence followed it, blushed scarlet, as for shame;
Then, as scorning her own feeling, resumed calmly—"I am seeking
More distinction than these gentlemen think worthy of my claim.

"Ne'ertheless, you see, I seek it—not because I am a woman,"—
(Here her smile sprang like a fountain, and, so, overflowed her mouth)
"But because my woods in Sussex have some purple shades at gloaming,
Which are worthy of a king in state, or poet in his youth.

"I invite you, Mr. Bertram, to no hive for worldly speeches—
Sir, I scarce should dare—but only where God asked the thrushes first—
And if you will sing beside them, in the covert of my beeches,
I will thank you for the woodlands, ... for the human world at worst."

Then, she smiled around right childly, then, she gazed around right queenly;
And I bowed—I could not answer! Alternated light and gloom—
While as one who quells the lions, with a steady eye serenely,
She, with level fronting eyelids, passed out stately from the room.

Oh, the blessed woods of Sussex, I can hear them still around me,
With their leafy tide of greenery still rippling up the wind!
Oh, the cursed woods of Sussex! Oh, the cruel love that bound me
Up against the boles of cedars, to be shamèd where I pined!