free-verse28 lines
Only A Slight Flirtation
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox'Twas just a slight flirtation,
And where's the harm, I pray,
In that amusing pastime
So much in vogue to-day?
Her hand was plighted elsewhere
To one she held most dear,
But why should she sit lonely
When other men were near?
They walked to church together,
They sat upon the shore.
She found him entertaining,
He found her something more.
They rambled in the moonlight;
It made her look so fair.
She let him praise her beauty,
And kiss her flowing hair.
'Twas just a nice flirtation.
'So sad the fellow died.
Was drowned one day while boating,
The week she was a bride.'
A life went out in darkness,
A mother's fond heart broke,
A maiden pined in secret -
With grief she never spoke.
While robed in bridal whiteness,
Queen of a festal throng,
She moved, whose slight flirtation
Had wrought this triple wrong.