C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Dora Greenwell (1821–1882)
“Bring Me Word How Tall She Is”
W
A garden sweet and dim,
Two happy children played
Together; he was made
For God, and she for him.
In deserts drear and dim,
Two outcast children strayed
Together—he betrayed
By her, and she by him.
They wandered, ne’er apart;
Each wrought to each annoy,
Yet each knew never joy
Save in the other’s heart.
By him so sore opprest,
They each the other grieved;
Yet each of each was best
Beloved, and still caressed.
Found fairest—still his prize,
His constant chief delight;
She raised to him her eyes
That led her not aright,
A patient huntress ran
Through forests dark and wide,
And still the Woman’s pride
And glory was the Man.
She kept him captive bound;
Forbidding her to rise,
By many cords and ties
She held him to the ground.
He stands erect and free;
Yet stands he not alone,
For his beloved would be
Like him she loveth, wise,
Like him she loveth, free.
Yet stand they not apart:
For as she doth aspire
He grows; nor stands she higher
Than her Belovèd’s heart.