Poems (Sharpless)/Jacob's Appeal

by Frances M. Sharpless

JACOB'S APPEAL LOVE AND PASSION

Lo! I asked Rachel in my dreaming youth:—
'Twas she I loved, Rachel the young, the fair,
The Vision, glory,—the true life of life,
Ideal of Passion,—never satiate,
And 'twas with Leah that thou put me off.
With her, the selfish, cruel, and the cold,
That men call love, but women selfishness.
By all the deeper anguish of my soul,
Yearning divine, that is not satisfied,
By all my dreams of joy most like a god's,
By all my trust in love, my hope in life,
I swear to thee, I shall not cease to serve
Till Rachel too, the promised, longed-for bride,
Be given to my arms, which are her home.
Lo! the dread hour that showed my wrong to me!
When the red dawn flashed thro' the marriage room,
And blushed o'er Leah in my close embrace,
That hideous form of man's wild, selfish lust.
Then did I swear to serve, and win from thee
Another bride and fairer;—even she,
The ever beautiful, the ever young,
Unsating and unsated,—virgin still
Amid her marriage honors,—she, the pure,
The still divine, she whom we name as Love.