The Rival
1853-1916
I so loved once, when Death came by I hid
Away my face,
And all my sweetheart's tresses she undid
To make my hiding-place.
The dread shade passed me thus unheeding; and
I turned me then
To calm my love -- kiss down her shielding hand
And comfort her again.
And lo! she answered not: and she did sit
All fixedly,
With her fair face and the sweet smile of it,
In love with Death, not me.
DayPoems Poem No. 1247
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1247.html">The Rival by James Whitcomb Riley</a>
The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor
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