Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/209

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JEALOUSY
What? Did my spotted lily startle you?Sorry—I never thought to warn. It's trueYou come upon it rather suddenlyOut of that vacant, dingy hall. You seeI've lived with it and tended it so long,I never seem to realize how strongAnd harsh its colors are. In this back roomThey fairly snarl and crackle through the gloonWell, yes, a little sickish I admit.I'll open up the window for a bitAnd let a gust of lilacs in—There, now,You watch him in the field while I tell how .T came to find it first. . . . . .T came to find it first. . . . . .I guess you knowHow much he likes to be alone, to goForever wand'ring off across the hill,Or mooning 'round the ruins of the mill,Or somewhere, anywhere it seems to be,So long as he can get away from me.But once—he was just opening the door—I felt I couldn't bear it any more!I snatched his hat and cried, "What right have youAlways to leave me so? I'm going too!"And went.And went.There was a blurring kind of rain,That soaked the world up in a slow, grey stain;And mist like phlegm—You couldn't hear a soundOn any side, except the one the groundMade, ogreishly sucking at our shoes.I knew that low road was the one he'd chooseTo plague me! So I led, and set a paceAcross the marsh that fairly made him race—Although for all of road or roof or tree,We might as well have stumbled undersea.No wonder I stopped short and screamed out loud,When that thing jabbed its hot fangs through the cloud

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