Perchance for dear Life's sake -- and life is sweet -- When work had failed and roads were deep in snow, And this meant food and fire, she fell so low -- That painted creature of the midnight street. Perchance that other, with the shoeless feet, Was Nature's victim, too untaught to know That all live buds are not allowed to blow -- Too starved and passion-blind to be discreet. And their accuser? She within the fold That walks in light, bejewelled and belaced, Who in cold blood, and not for love or need, Sold the white flower of womanhood for gold; The wedded harlot, rich and undisgraced, The viler prostitute in mind and deed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MOMENT by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE PALINGENESIS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 8. TO MINNIE (WITH A HAND-GLASS) by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 2 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY VERSES FOR CHILDREN: MAPLE TREE by ZEDA K. AILES REMEMBRANCE by EGMONT HEGEL ARENS VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF P. BURGESS; A CHILD OF SUPERIOR ENDOWMENTS by BERNARD BARTON THE IVORY GATE; AN UNFINISHED DRAFT by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |