Poems (Hooper)/A Winter Tale

by Lucy Hamilton Hooper

A WINTER TALE.

    Under the stars' pale light,
    Upon a winter's night,
Two women sat beneath an ancient yew.
    Both marvelously fair;
    One with dark eyes and hair,
The other golden-tress'd, with eyes of blue.

    Each told a bitter tale,
    Sad as a dying wail,
Of woman's faith and of man's faithlessness.
    Each thrill'd the winter air
    With words of wild despair,
And with the accents of heart-wrung distress.

    One to the other said:
    "Now Love and Hope are dead;
The ashes of the Past our Future smother;
    Yet let us once again
    Back to the haunts of men:
Let us return—let us avenge each other!"

    One year has pass'd and two:
    Again beneath the yew
The silent stars behold those women fair.
    Each with cold lips and pale
    Again repeats her tale.
Triumphant words, not sad, now thrill the air.

    One told of what she'd done,
    Of love spurn'd soon as won;
Of death self-dealt while manhood's pulse beat high.
    The other, with a smile
    That never changed the while,
Said, "He who wronged you lives and longs to die!"

    Such laughter then arose
    As Hell, not Heaven, knows,
Wild exultation with fierce hatred blended.
    Into the darkness then
    They passed from human ken,
Whither I know not. Lo, my tale is ended!