the story of two lives.
15
I see the jasmine's white and dainty graces,
Black hollyhocks, with laughing negro-faces,
The red geranium's ardent crest of flame,
And mignonnette, from which he took my name . . .
I see a girl amid those flowers at play—
A boy is near—two human buds, whose May
Has ripened with the flowers—both, how fair!
Was he the boy? was I the girl, who there
Stood hand in hand? Then did that road begin
Which led from Eden to a world of sin.
Black hollyhocks, with laughing negro-faces,
The red geranium's ardent crest of flame,
And mignonnette, from which he took my name . . .
I see a girl amid those flowers at play—
A boy is near—two human buds, whose May
Has ripened with the flowers—both, how fair!
Was he the boy? was I the girl, who there
Stood hand in hand? Then did that road begin
Which led from Eden to a world of sin.
My parents served his mother. From their grave
She took me to her home, and swore to save
My life from all their lives, she said, had borne.
Oh, better had I lived as poor, forlorn
As thou, my mother; better on thy bier
Had I been slain, than sent to perish there!
The lady kept me in her ancient hall
(There was my Paradise, and there my fall)
Until she found her son dared love me—then
She banished me. He followed, and again
She came between us. Did I love or hate
When I sent back her bounty? Oh, too late
She took me to her home, and swore to save
My life from all their lives, she said, had borne.
Oh, better had I lived as poor, forlorn
As thou, my mother; better on thy bier
Had I been slain, than sent to perish there!
The lady kept me in her ancient hall
(There was my Paradise, and there my fall)
Until she found her son dared love me—then
She banished me. He followed, and again
She came between us. Did I love or hate
When I sent back her bounty? Oh, too late
