One cold wet winter evening
I was hurrying to my home,
I passed a drunkard lying in the mire;
The sleet was falling fastly,
My heart for him was moved;
I thought it best to aid him to the fire.
Then from the ground I raised him,
And bore him to my home,
Which was a little distance from the place;
And when my home I entered,
The light had shone around,
There I beheld the beauty of his face
A fair young man in prime,
Who wore a classic brow;
The rays of light were gleaming from his eyes,
And on his vest a medal
With signature to show
In college he had won it as a prize.
Soon he was sleeping soundly
In a chair before the fire,
The medal from his breast I took and read:
I saw he was an A. B.
The poet of his class-
A valedictorian the medal said.
‘Twas then my soul was lighten’d,
I gazed into his face,
I knew it was a genius I had found;
I thought, who threw the arrow
That pierced his manly heart,
And brought the noble victim to the ground?
At first I deemed it rum
That brought him to this state,
And then I thought, what caused him first to drink?
Then he was sleeping soundly,
Myself I did not know,
And through the night the cause I’d only think.
Next morning soon I rose,
His breakfast was prepared;
To have him dine with me I thought a treat.
To him we all were strangers,
At first he did refuse;
At last we all prevailed with him to eat.
Around our family table,
He seated at the head,
And while he ate, our hearts did eager yearn;
We knew he was a genius,
Though fallen from the state,
And much the cause we all desired to learn.
I told him where I found him,
His face began to change;
I asked him what had brought him to this state;
The tears were falling fastly,
“‘Twas Mary,” he replied.
This story then to me he did relate:
“After I finished college
I was doing fairly well,
In Chicago I was cashier of a bank;
One day there came a letter
From the girl that had my heart-
An arrow! Oh, it pierced me, and I sank.
“‘Twas from my early childhood
This girl had won my heart,
Before our God she promised to be mine;
When time for invitations
To comrades should be sent,
The vow she sent this letter to decline.
“I’ll ne’er forget that day;
Yea, time can ne’er erase
The hour I the letter did receive;
At first I was dumbfounded,
It seemed my heart would break-
Somehow the message I could not believe.
“I was standing at my window,
The letter come to hand;
I knew the man to whom I was dealing change.
I tried to bear it bravely,
But all could plainly see
With me that there was something going strange.
“The boy that brought the letter
Stood gazing in my face,
I bade him go-the answer not to wait;
I read the letter over,
And mused out to myself:
‘To-night I’ll call and make the matter straight.’
“Each moment seemed an hour,
Thought night would never come;
My assistant I called to take my place-
Then from the bank I darted,
I hastened to her home;
I wanted just to gaze into her face.
“She was standing by the window,
And saw me as I came-
She felt her guilt, and to a closet fled;
At the door her servant met me,
Instructed what to say,
‘There’s no one here but me,’ he quickly said.
“Quite well I knew t’was false;
I knew not what to do,
Had I the means, death might have been my fate.
I thought and then departed.
I knew well she was there-
I saw her when I entered through the gate.
“Back to my home I struggled,
And sat in deepest grief;
I tried in vain to pass the time away.
Of course it was then evening-
I thought I’d call at night.
A moment then to me did seem a day.
“Sometimes ‘twould seem too hard;
Some way the grief I bore,
I called again before the sun went down-
To be deceived again,
She took the early train,
And with my heart departed from the town.
“At the door her mother met me,
And the story she did tell;
It was then the arrow stung me,
And you found me where I fell.
“Then I did not cease to love her,
But with her desired to go;
For the way I prayed her mother,
But she vowed she did not know.
“All that night around her mother
I wept and tried her heart to win;
On my knees I knelt and prayed her
For her daughter she might send.
“True, my mother did weep with me,
From her the way I could not plead;
I decided then to seek her
Anywhere my heart should lead.
“Soon I left her house next morning,
And to the bank I went again;
But my heart was filled with sadness,
It seemed all my hope was vain.
“Then I gave up my position
Until the next ensuing year;
For my heart was stolen from me-
I have sought it far and near.
“Then I told my friend the story,
He, too, wept when he did hear;
Then he gave to me some brandy,
Said my grief ‘twould help to bear.
“Since that day I’ve sadly wondered
If my lover I could find,
Since that day the thirsting spirit
To the brandy seems to bind.
“Eight months to-day-I’ve not returned,
And neither she, this letter said;
And since that day I’ve been wondering
If the girl I loved is dead?”
(James Ephraim McGirt)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Night Poems, Light Poems, Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Time Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Soul Poems, Faces Poems, Fairness Poems, Place PoemsBased on Keywords: cashier, dumbfounded, fastly, go-the