free-verse403 lines

Maurine Part VI.

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There was a week of bustle and of hurry;

A stately home echoed to voices sweet,

Calling, replying; and to tripping feet

Of busy bridesmaids, running to and fro,

With all that girlish fluttering and flurry

Preceding such occasions.

Helen's room

Was like a lily-garden, all in bloom,

Decked with the dainty robes of her trousseau.

My robe was fashioned by swift, skillful hands -

A thing of beauty, elegant and rich,

A mystery of loopings, puffs and bands;

And as I watched it growing, stitch by stitch,

I felt as one might feel who should behold

With vision trance-like, where his body lay

In deathly slumber, simulating clay,

His grave-cloth sewed together, fold on fold.

I lived with ev'ry nerve upon the strain,

As men go into battle; and the pain,

That, more and more, to my sad heart revealed,

Grew ghastly with its horrors, was concealed

From mortal eyes by superhuman power,

That God bestowed upon me, hour by hour.

What night the Old Year gave unto the New

The key of human happiness and woe,

The pointed stars, upon their field of blue,

Shone, white and perfect, o'er a world below,

Of snow-clad beauty; all the trees were dressed

In gleaming garments, decked with diadems,

Each seeming like a bridal-bidden guest,

Coming o'er-laden with a gift of gems.

The bustle of the dressing room; the sound

Of eager voices in discourse; the clang

Of "sweet bells jangled"; thud of steel-clad feet

That beat swift music on the frozen ground -

All blent together in my brain, and rang

A medley of strange noises, incomplete,

And full of discords.

Then out on the night

Streamed from this open vestibule, a light

That lit the velvet blossoms which we trod,

With all the hues of those that deck the sod.

The grand cathedral windows were ablaze

With gorgeous colors; through a sea of bloom,

Up the long aisle, to join the waiting groom,

The bridal cortege passed.

As some lost soul

Might surge on with the curious crowd, to gaze

Upon its coffined body, so I went

With that glad festal throng. The organ sent

Great waves of melody along the air,

That broke and fell, in liquid drops, like spray,

On happy hearts that listened. But to me

It sounded faintly, as if miles away,

A troubled spirit, sitting in despair

Beside the sad and ever-moaning sea,

Gave utterance to sighing sounds of dole.

We paused before the altar. Framed in flowers,

The white-robed man of God stood forth.

I heard

The solemn service open; through long hours

I seemed to stand and listen, while each word

Fell on my ear as falls the sound of clay

Upon the coffin of the worshiped dead.

The stately father gave the bride away:

The bridegroom circled with a golden band

The taper finger of her dainty hand.

The last imposing, binding words were said -

"What God has joined let no man put asunder" -

And all my strife with self was at an end;

My lover was the husband of my friend.

How strangely, in some awful hour of pain,

External trifles with our sorrows blend!

I never hear the mighty organ's thunder,

I never catch the scent of heliotrope,

Nor see stained windows all ablaze with light,

Without that dizzy whirling of the brain,

And all the ghastly feeling of that night,

When my sick heart relinquished love and hope.

The pain we feel so keenly may depart,

And e'en its memory cease to haunt the heart;

But some slight thing, a perfume, or a sound

Will probe the closed recesses of the wound,

And for a moment bring the old-time smart.

Congratulations, kisses, tears and smiles,

Good-byes and farewells given; then across

The snowy waste of weary wintry miles,

Back to my girlhood's home, where, through each room,

For evermore pale phantoms of delight

Should aimless wander, always in my sight,

Pointing, with ghostly fingers, to the tomb

Wet with the tears of living pain and loss.

The sleepless nights of watching and of care,

Followed by that one week of keenest pain,

Taxing my weakened system, and my brain,

Brought on a ling'ring illness.

Day by day,

In that strange, apathetic state I lay,

Of mental and of physical despair.

I had no pain, no fever, and no chill,

But lay without ambition, strength, or will,

Knowing no wish for anything but rest,

Which seemed, of all God's store of gifts, the best.

Physicians came and shook their heads and sighed;

And to their score of questions I replied,

With but one languid answer, o'er and o'er.

"I am so weary - weary - nothing more."

I slept, and dreamed I was some feathered thing,

Flying through space with ever-aching wing,

Seeking a ship called Rest all snowy white,

That sailed and sailed before me, just in sight,

But always one unchanging distance kept,

And woke more weary than before I slept.

I slept, and dreamed I ran to win a prize.

A hand from heaven held down before my eyes.

All eagerness I sought it - it was gone,

But shone in all its beauty farther on.

I ran, and ran, and ran, in eager quest

Of that great prize, whereon was written "rest,"

Which ever just beyond my reach did gleam,

And wakened doubly weary with my dream.

I dreamed I was a crystal drop of rain,

That saw a snow-white lily on the plain,

And left the cloud to nestle in her breast.

I fell and fell, but nevermore found rest -

I fell and fell, but found no stopping place,

Through leagues and leagues of never-ending space,

While space illimitable stretched before.

And all these dreams but wearied me the more.

Familiar voices sounded in my room -

Aunt Ruth's and Roy's, and Helen's: but they seemed

A part of some strange fancy I had dreamed,

And now remembered dimly.

Wrapped in gloom,

My mind, o'er taxed, lost hold of time at last,

Ignored its future, and forgot its past,

And groped along the present, as a light,

Carried, uncovered, through the fogs of night,

Will flicker faintly.

But I felt, at length,

When March winds brought vague rumors of the spring,

A certain sense of "restlessness with rest."

My aching frame was weary of repose,

And wanted action.

Then slow-creeping strength

Came back with Mem'ry, hand in hand, to bring

And lay upon my sore and bleeding breast,

Grim-visaged Recollection's thorny rose.

I gained, and failed. One day could ride and walk,

The next would find me prostrate: while a flock

Of ghostly thoughts, like phantom birds, would flit

About the chambers of my heart, or sit,

Pale spectres of the past, with folded wings,

Perched, silently, upon the voiceless strings,

That once resounded to Hope's happy lays.

So passed the ever-changing April days.

When May came, lightsome footed, o'er the lea,

Accompanied by kind Aunt Ruth and Roy,

I bade farewell to home with secret joy,

And turned my wan face eastward to the sea.

Roy planned our route of travel: for all lands

Were one to him. Or Egypt's burning sands,

Or Alps of Switzerland, or stately Rome,

All were familiar as the fields of home.

There was a year of wand'ring to and fro,

Like restless spirits; scaling mountain heights;

Dwelling among the countless, rare delights

Of lands historic; turning dusty pages,

Stamped with the tragedies of mighty ages;

Gazing upon the scenes of bloody acts,

Of kings long buried - bare, unvarnished facts,

Surpassing wildest fictions of the brain;

Rubbing against all people, high and low,

And by this contact feeling Self to grow

Smaller and less important, and the vein

Of human kindness deeper, seeing God,

Unto the humble delver of the sod,

And to the ruling monarch on the throne,

Has given hope, ambition, joy, and pain,

And that all hearts have feelings like our own.

There is no school that disciplines the mind,

And broadens thought, like contact with mankind.

The college-prisoned greybeard, who has burned

The midnight lamp, and book-bound knowledge learned,

Till sciences or classics hold no lore

He has not conned and studied, o'er and o'er,

Is but a babe in wisdom, when compared

With some unlettered wand'rer, who has shared

The hospitalities of every land;

Felt touch of brother in each proffered hand;

Made man his study, and the world his college,

And gained this grand epitome of knowledge:

Each human being has a heart and soul,

And self is but an atom of the whole.

I hold he is best learn'd and most wise,

Who best and most can love and sympathize.

Book-wisdom makes us vain and self-contained;

Our banded minds go round in little grooves;

But constant friction with the world removes

These iron foes to freedom, and we rise

To grander heights, and, all untrammeled, find

A better atmosphere and clearer skies;

And through its broadened realm, no longer chained,

Thought travels freely, leaving Self behind.

Where'er we chanced to wander or to roam,

Glad letters came from Helen; happy things,

Like little birds that followed on swift wings,

Bringing their tender messages from home.

Her days were poems, beautiful, complete.

The rhythm perfect, and the burden sweet.

She was so happy - happy, and so blest.

My heart had found contentment in that year.

With health restored, my life seemed full of cheer

The heart of youth turns ever to the light;

Sorrow and gloom may curtain it like night,

But, in its very anguish and unrest,

It beats and tears the pall-like folds away,

And finds again the sunlight of the day.

And yet, despite the changes without measure,

Despite sight-seeing, round on round of pleasure;

Despite new friends, new suitors, still my heart

Was conscious of a something lacking, where

Love once had dwelt, and afterward despair.

Now love was buried; and despair had flown

Before the healthful zephyrs that had blown

From heights serene and lofty; and the place

Where both had dwelt, was empty, voiceless space

And so I took my long-loved study, art,

The dreary vacuum in my life to fill,

And worked, and labored, with a right good will.

Aunt Ruth and I took rooms in Rome; while Roy

Lingered in Scotland, with his new-found joy.

A dainty little lassie, Grace Kildare,

Had snared him in her flossy, flaxen hair,

And made him captive.

We were thrown, by chance,

In contact with her people while in France

The previous season: she was wholly sweet

And fair and gentle; so n'ive, and yet

So womanly, she was at once the pet

Of all our party; and, ere many days,

Won by her fresh face, and her artless ways,

Roy fell a helpless captive at her feet.

Her home was in the Highlands; and she came

Of good old stock, of fair untarnished fame.

Through all these months Roy had been true as steel;

And by his every action made me feel

He was my friend and brother, and no more.

The same big-souled and trusty friend of yore.

Yet, in my secret heart, I wished I knew

Whether the love he felt one time was dead,

Or only hidden, for my sake, from view.

So when he came to me one day, and said,

The velvet blackness of his eyes ashine

With light of love and triumph: "Cousin, mine,

Congratulate me! She whom I adore

Has pledged to me the promise of her hand;

Her heart I have already," I was glad

With double gladness, for it freed my mind

Of fear that he, in secret, might be sad.

From March till June had left her moons behind,

And merged her rose-red beauty in July,

There was no message from my native land.

Then came a few brief lines, by Vivian penned:

Death had been near to Helen, but passed by;

The danger was now over. God was kind;

The mother and the child were both alive;

No other child was ever known to thrive

As throve this one, nurse had been heard to say.

The infant was a wonder, every way.

And, at command of Helen he would send

A lock of baby's golden hair to me.

And did I, on my honor, ever see

Such hair before? Helen would write, ere long:

She gained quite slowly, but would soon be strong -

Stronger than ever, so the doctors said.

I took the tiny ringlet, golden - fair,

Mayhap his hand had severed from the head

Of his own child, and pressed it to my cheek

And to my lips, and kissed it o'er and o'er.

All my maternal instincts seemed to rise,

And clamor for their rights, while my wet eyes,

Rained tears upon the silken tress of hair.

The woman struggled with her heart before!

It was the mother in me now did speak,

Moaning, like Rachel, that her babes were not,

And crying out against her barren lot.

Once I bemoaned the long and lonely years

That stretched before me, dark with love's eclipse;

And thought how my unmated heart would miss

The shelter of a broad and manly breast -

The strong, bold arm - the tender clinging kiss -

And all pure love's possessions, manifold;

But now I wept a flood of bitter tears,

Thinking of little heads of shining gold,

That would not on my bosom sink to rest;

Of little hands that would not touch my cheek;

Of little lisping voices, and sweet lips,

That never in my list'ning ear would speak

The blessed name of mother.

Oh, in woman

How mighty is the love of offspring! Ere

Unto her wond'ring, untaught mind unfolds

The myst'ry that is half divine, half human,

Of life and birth, the love of unborn souls

Within her, and the mother-yearning creeps

Through her warm heart, and stirs its hidden deeps,

And grows and strengthens with each riper year.

As storms may gather in a placid sky,

And spend their fury, and then pass away,

Leaving again the blue of cloudless day,

E'en so the tempest of my grief passed by.

'T was weak to mourn for what I had resigned,

With the deliberate purpose of my mind,

To my sweet friend.

Relinquishing my love,

I gave my dearest hope of joy to her.

If God, from out his boundless store above,

Had chosen added blessings to confer,

I would rejoice, for her sake - not repine

That th' immortal treasures were not mine.

Better my lonely sorrow, than to know

My selfish joy had been another's woe;

Better my grief and my strength to control,

Than the despair of her frail-bodied soul;

Better to go on, loveless, to the end,

Than wear love's rose, whose thorn had slain my friend.

Work is the salve that heals the wounded heart.

With will most resolute I set my aim

To enter on the weary race for Fame,

And if I failed to climb the dizzy height,

To reach some point of excellence in art.

E'en as the Maker held earth incomplete,

Till man was formed, and placed upon the sod,

The perfect, living image of his God,

All landscape scenes were lacking in my sight,

Wherein the human figure had no part.

In that, all lines of symmetry did meet -

All hues of beauty mingle. So I brought

Enthusiasm in abundance, thought,

Much study, and some talent, day by day,

To help me in my efforts to portray

The wond'rous power, majesty and grace

Stamped on some form, or looking from some face.

This was to be my specialty: To take

Human emotion for my theme, and make

The unassisted form divine express

Anger or Sorrow, Pleasure, Pain, Distress;

And thus to build Fame's monument above

The grave of my departed hope and love.

This is not Genius. Genius spreads its wings

And soars beyond itself, or selfish things.

Talent has need of stepping-stones: some cross,

Some cheated purpose, some great pain or loss,

Must lay the groundwork, and arouse ambition,

Before it labors onward to fruition.

But, as the lark from beds of bloom will rise

And sail and sing among the very skies,

Still mounting near and nearer to the light,

Impelled alone by love of upward flight,

So Genius soars - it does not need to climb -

Upon God-given wings, to heights sublime.

Some sportman's shot, grazing the singer's throat,

Some venomous assault of birds of prey,

May speed its flight toward the realm of day,

And tinge with triumph every liquid note.

So deathless Genius mounts but higher yet,

When Strife and Envy think to slay or fret.

There is no balking Genius. Only death

Can silence it, or hinder. While there's breath

Or sense of feeling, it will spurn the sod,

And lift itself to glory, and to God.

The acorn sprouted - weeds nor flowers can choke

The certain growth of th' upreaching oak.

Talent was mine, not Genius; and my mind

Seemed bound by chains, and would not leave behind

Its selfish love and sorrow.

Did I strive

To picture some emotion, lo! his eyes,

Of emerald beauty, dark as ocean dyes,

Looked from the canvas: and my buried pain

Rose from its grave, and stood by me alive.

Whate'er my subject, in some hue or line,

The glorious beauty of his face would shine.

So for a time my labor seemed in vain,

Since it but freshened, and made keener yet,

The grief my heart was striving to forget.

While in his form all strength and magnitude

With grace and supple sinews were entwined,

While in his face all beauties were combined

Of perfect features, intellect and truth,

With all that fine rich coloring of youth,

How could my brush portray aught good or fair

Wherein no fatal likeness should intrude

Of him my soul had worshiped?

But, at last,

Setting a watch upon my unwise heart

That thus would mix its sorrow with my art,

I resolutely shut away the past,

And made the toilsome present passing bright

With dreams of what was hidden from my sight

In the far distant future, when the soil

Should yield me golden fruit for all my toil.