Her Dilemma
(In ---- Church)

THE two were silent in a sunless church,

  Whose mildewed walls, uneven paving-stones,

And wasted carvings passed antique research;

  And nothing broke the clock's dull monotones.

Leaning against a wormy poppy-head,

  So wan and worn that he could scarcely stand,

--For he was soon to die,--he softly said,

  "Tell me you love me!"--holding hard her hand.

She would have given a world to breathe "yes" truly,

  So much his life seemed hanging on her mind,

And hence she lied, her heart persuaded throughly,

  'Twas worth her soul to be a moment kind.

But the sad need thereof, his nearing death,

  So mocked humanity that she shamed to prize

A world conditioned thus, or care for breath

  Where Nature such dilemmas could devise.

1866.