Edith (Nesbit) Bland (1858-1924). Miscellaneous Poems. III. A Tragedy (II). Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Miscellaneous Poems.
III. A Tragedy (II)

By Edith (Nesbit) Bland (1858–1924)


IT’S lonely in my study here alone
Now you are gone;
I loved to see your white gown mid the flowers,
While, hours on hours,
I studied—toiled to weave a crown of fame	5
About your name.

I liked to hear your sweet, low laughter ring;
To hear you sing
About the house while I sat reading here,
My child, my dear;	10
To know you glad with all the life-joys fair
I dared not share.

I thought there would be time enough to show
My love, you know,
When I could lay with laurels at your feet	15
Love’s roses sweet;
I thought I could taste love when fame was won—
Now both are done!

Thank God, your child-heart knew not how to miss
The passionate kiss,	20
Which I dared never give, lest love should rise
Mighty, unwise,
And bind me, with my life-work incomplete,
Beside your feet.

You never knew, you lived and were content;	25
My one chance went;
You died, my little one, and are at rest—
And I, unblest,
Look at these broken fragments of my life,
My child, my wife.	30