Helen Muckley

HE thought it was a goddess in merry-making mood,

But it was just a lady who wanted to be wooed.

He knelt before that lady, as suddenly to find

Within his arms a woman who did not know her mind.

He whispered to that woman, discovering instead

An insolent young savage who tried to kill, and fled.

He made after that savage, high mounted, pulse elate—

Ah, will he know the beggar maid outside his postern gate?