The Dame Of Athelhall

I     "Soul! Shall I see thy face," she said,      "In one brief hour?     And away with thee from a loveless bed     To a far-off sun, to a vine-wrapt bower,     And be thine own unseparated,      And challenge the world's white glower? II     She quickened her feet, and met him where      They had predesigned:     And they clasped, and mounted, and cleft the air     Upon whirling wheels; till the will to bind     Her life with his made the moments there      Efface the years behind. III     Miles slid, and the sight of the port upgrew      As they sped on;     When slipping its bond the bracelet flew     From her fondled arm. Replaced anon,     Its cameo of the abjured one drew      Her musings thereupon. IV     The gaud with his image once had been      A gift from him:     And so it was that its carving keen     Refurbished memories wearing dim,     Which set in her soul a throe of teen,      And a tear on her lashes' brim. V     "I may not go!" she at length upspake,      "Thoughts call me back -     I would still lose all for your dear, dear sake;     My heart is thine, friend! But my track     I home to Athelhall must take      To hinder household wrack!" VI     He appealed. But they parted, weak and wan:      And he left the shore;     His ship diminished, was low, was gone;     And she heard in the waves as the daytide wore,     And read in the leer of the sun that shone,      That they parted for evermore. VII     She homed as she came, at the dip of eve      On Athel Coomb     Regaining the Hall she had sworn to leave . . .     The house was soundless as a tomb,     And she entered her chamber, there to grieve      Lone, kneeling, in the gloom. VIII     From the lawn without rose her husband's voice      To one his friend:     "Another her Love, another my choice,     Her going is good. Our conditions mend;     In a change of mates we shall both rejoice;      I hoped that it thus might end! IX     "A quick divorce; she will make him hers,      And I wed mine.     So Time rights all things in long, long years -     Or rather she, by her bold design!     I admire a woman no balk deters:      She has blessed my life, in fine. X     "I shall build new rooms for my new true bride,      Let the bygone be:     By now, no doubt, she has crossed the tide     With the man to her mind. Far happier she     In some warm vineland by his side      Than ever she was with me."