h-bed of a young girl whom he has loved, unknown to her. She has
died scarcely knowing him, not even suspecting his love. But what
matter? God creates love to reward love, and there is another life to
come.

"So hush,--I will give you this leaf to keep
See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand!
There, that is our secret: go to sleep!
You will wake, and remember, and understand."

_A Woman's Last Word_ is an exquisite little lyric which sings itself to
its own music of delicate gravity and gentle pathos; but it too holds,
in its few small lines, a complete situation, that most pathetic one in
which a woman resolves to merge her individuality in the wish and will
of her husband, to bind, for his sake, her intellect in the chains of
her heart.

"A WOMAN'S LAST WORD.

I.

Let's contend no more, Love,
Strive nor weep:
All be as before, Love,
--Only sleep!

II.

What so wild as words are?
I and thou
In debate, as birds are,
Hawk on bough!

III.

See the creature stalking
While we speak!
Hush and hide the talking,
Cheek on cheek!

IV.

What so false as truth is,
False to thee?
Where the serpent's tooth is,
Shun the tree--

V.

Where the apple reddens
Never pry--
Lest we lose our Edens,
Eve and I.

VI.

Be a god and hold me
With a charm!
Be a man and fold me
With thine arm!

VII.

Teach me, only teach, Love!
As I ought
I will speak thy speech, Love,
Think thy thought--

VIII.

Meet, if thou require it,
Both demands,
Laying flesh and spirit
In thy hands.

IX.

That shall be to-morrow
Not to-night:
I must bury sorrow
Out of sight:

X.

--Must a little weep, Love,
(Foolish me!)
And so fall asleep, Love,
Loved by thee."

_Any Wife to any Husband_ is the grave and mournful lament of a dying
woman, addressed to the husband whose love has never wavered throughout
her life, but whose faithlessness to her memory she foresees. The
situation is novel in poetry, and it is realised with an intense
sympathy and depth of feeling. The tone of dignified sadness in the
woman's words, never passionate or pleading, only confi