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Every Day a Discovery on the Net

begins tomorrow 1st November

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Satires of Circumstance No.12

in 15 glimpses

At the Draper's

'I stood at the back of the shop, my dear,
      But you did not perceive me.
Well, when they deliver what you were shown
      I shall know nothing of it, believe me!'
And he coughed and coughed as she paled and said,
      'O, I didn't see you come in there --
Why couldn't you speak?' -- 'Well, I didn't. I left
      That you should not notice I'd been there.
'You were viewing some lovely things. "Soon required
      For a widow, of latest fashion;"
And I knew 'twould upset you to meet the man
      Who had to be cold and ashen
'And screwed in a box before they could dress you
      "In the last new note in mourning,"
As they defined it. So, not to distress you,
I left you to your adorning.'

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Satires of Circumstance No.11

in 15 glimpses

In the Restaurant

'But hear. If you stay, and the child be born,

It will pass as your husband's with the rest,

While, if we fly, the teeth of scorn

Will be gleaming at us from east to west;

And the child will come as a life despised;

I feel an elopement is ill-advised!'

'O you realize not what it is, my dear,

To a woman! Daily and hourly alarms

Lest the truth should out. How can I stay here

And nightly take him into my arms!

Come to the child no name or fame,

Let us go, and face it, and bear the shame.'

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Satires of Circumstance No.10

in 15 glimpses

In the Nuptial Chamber

'O That mastering tune?' And up in the bed
Like a lace-robed phantom springs the bride;
'And why?' asks the man she had that day wed,
With a start, as the band plays on outside.
'Its the townsfolks' cheery compliment
Because of our marriage, my Innocent.'

'O but you don't know! 'Tis the passionate air
To which my old Love waltzed with me,
And I swore as we spun that none should share
My home, my kisses, till death, save he!
And he dominates me and thrills me through,
And its he I embrace while embracing you!'

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Satires of Circumstance No.9

in 15 glimpses

At the Altar Rail

'My bride is not coming, alas!' says the groom,

And the telegram shakes in his hand. 'I own

It was hurried! We met at a dancing-room

When I went to the Cattle-Show alone,

And then, next night, where the Fountain leaps,

And the Street of the Quarter-Circle sweeps.

'Ay, she won me to ask her to be my wife --

'Twas foolish perhaps! -- to forsake the ways

Of the flaring town for a farmer's life.

She agreed. And we fixed it. Now she says:

"It's sweet of you, dear, to prepare me a nest,

But a swift, short, gay life suits me best.

What I really am you have never gleaned;

I had eaten the apple ere you were weaned."'

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Satires of Circumstance No.8

in 15 glimpses

In the Study

He enters, and mute on the edge of a chair

Sits a thin-faced lady, a stranger there,

A type of decayed gentility;

And by some small signs he well can guess

That she comes to him almost breakfastless.

'I have called -- I hope I do not err --

I am looking for a purchaser

Of some score volumes of the works

Of eminent divines I own, --

Left by my father -- though it irks

My patience to offer them.' And she smiles

As if necessity were unknown;

'But the truth of it is that oftenwhiles

I have wished, as I am fond of art,

To make my rooms a little smart.'

And lightly still she laughs to him,

As if to sell were a mere gay whim,

And that, to be frank, Life were indeed

To her not vinegar and gall,

But fresh and honey-like; and Need

No household skeleton at all.

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Satires of Circumstance No.7

in 15 glimpses

Outside the Window

'My stick!' he says, and turns in the lane

To the house just left, whence a vixen voice

Comes out with the firelight through the pane,

And he sees within that the girl of his choice

Stands rating her mother with eyes aglare

For something said while he was there.

'At last I behold her soul undraped!'

Thinks the man who had loved her more than himself;

'My God! -- 'tis but narrowly I have escaped. --

My precious porcelain proves it delf.'

His face has reddened like one ashamed,

And he steals off; leaving his stick unclaimed.

-o0o-

Satires of Circumstance No.6

in 15 glimpses

In the Cemetery

'You see those mother's squabbling there?'

Remarks the man of the cemetery.

'One says in tears, "'Tis mine lies here!"

Another, "Nay, mine, you Pharisee!"

Another, "How dare you move my flowers

And put your own on this grave of ours!"

But all their children were laid therein

At different times, like sprats in a tin.

'And then the main drain had to cross,

And we moved the lot some nights ago,

And packed them away in the general foss

With hundreds more. But their folks don't know,

And as well cry over a new-laid drain

As anything else, to ease your pain!'

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