Canada and Other Poems/Slander
SLANDER.
Of all the poison plants that grow,And flourish in the human breast,No other plant, perhaps, hath soDeep clench'd a root, or peaceful rest.
No other plant has such a fruit,At once so sweet, and deadly too,As that which loads each branch and shoot,And falls for me to eat, and you.
Fell jealousy, the monster wild,Whose green eyes roll in frenzy round,His ravages are small, and mild,To thine, and narrower far his ground.
His pow'r is felt around his home,But who can gauge the sway of thine,Which reaches high to heaven's dome,And acts within the darksome mine?
Thy poison drops distil each hour,To blight, to ruin and destroy,And find with dark, insidious pow'r,The heart of woman, man and boy.
What antidote can neutralizeThy baneful force, thy potent spell?For deepest danger ever liesWithin this poison draught of hell.
And men will drink with eager lip,The cup thou holdest forth to them,Not knowing that the draught they sipMay their, and other souls, condemn.