SHE spoke, and rose, and opened the room-door, Unslippered, a single cloak about her put; Eager to see her sister, forth she came And crossed the threshold floor. A long time in the impediment of her shame She waited at the porchway, irresolute; And then she turned again upon her track, Again she came outside, again slipped back; This way and that her fear bore her in vain; When she ran out, shame tethered her again Fast in her room, by passion of her will Still driven, by her shame impeded still. Three times she tried, three times herself she stayed, But fell upon her pillow the fourth time Face downward, like a bride within her room Mourning the lusty groom Brothers and parents had given her in troth, And still her women, for shame and thought of him, She dare not join, but sits and cries in a corner; For him some doom laid low, before they both Came each in other's blisses to exult. With burning heart she sits, a silent mourner Watching the bed unslept, Afraid the other women will insult And mock at her; like her Medea wept. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PROGRESS OF POETRY; A VARIATION by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE NIGHT OF TRAFALGAR by THOMAS HARDY STELLA'S BIRTHDAY, 1720 by JONATHAN SWIFT THE SORROWS OF WERTHER by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY FRAGMENT by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |