A sneer upon another’s lip—
A foolish, fancied slight,
O’er the young summer of our lives
Had cast estrangement’s blight;
And courtesy usurped the place
Where wedded love should reign—
Ah! mocking wealth! thy gauds were flung
To such chilled hearts in vain!
There came an hour, the changeful god
Revoked his gifts and fled;
And Ruin, with her cruel eyes,
Sat brooding in his stead.
Then, to my couch at night he came,
And with a lingering kiss,
“Poor girl!” he said, “I never dreamed
Thy fate would change like this!
“The little fortune leaves is thine—
Myself, I will not care,
Where this now homeless form may stray,
Or what fresh sorrows bear.
“Yet hope my aimless life had stirred,
Couldst thou have loved as I”—
He paused. “Perhaps ’tis better thus;”
Yet ended with a sigh.
With joyful tears and broken words,
My arms were round him thrown;
Oh, ecstasy! what recked I else,
If he was all my own!
Now, blessings on my cottage home!
Where, when my babe’s at rest,
I fling my work aside to go
And lean upon his breast;
To press the hands that toil to make
My own a happy life;
And list unwearied to the voice
Which calls me dear, dear wife!