Eugene Gordon, "Less Worldly Wise" (1930)
To satisfy her craving. What would she
Of me? What did she crave that reached beyond
My puny strength to give? I gave her love
And loyalty; I gave her promises
Of things that have their value in the soul:
Companionship through fair and stormy days;
Contentment in a world of discontent;
An understanding deep enough to see
The mainspring at the heart of all her moods.
Desires, passions, whimsicalities,
Small hates, dislikes, irrationalities,-
! promised these but that was not enough.
I saw her walking arm in arm one day
With one I did not know, a simple youth
Who hung upon her words, who scanned her face
For fleeting shades of mood, and clinging thus,
Responded like an instrument beneath
Skilled fingers. Her eyes glowed from a fire
Within her; ecstacy was in her face.
What was the secret that this youth possessed
Whose knowledge, put to use, could far transcend
All I had done or promised I would do?
I begged a word with her, --- ! begged who once
Received her favors freely, without stint,
As something due a lover. From her lips
I begged his secret; from her lips it came.
"I do not know," she cried; "I do not know!
We live in worlds asunder: I above
And he below. His gaze is upward ever,
His eyes transfixed on my face in worship.
I have no love for him, but in my heart
Vast sympathies that bend and touch his head
Bowed at my feet. His adoration sings
Unto my woman's nature, touching me
To warm responses. Did you adore me?
No nor worship me. Your world was my own
And mine was yours. We were too much alike
Each to the other's moods and nuances.
There did not lie between us that vast field
Of difference and contrast from which springs
The attitude of worship. Thus I give
The content of the secret. He regards
Me as a being he may worship and adore
As saints adore angels. Is this so strange?
I see the adoration in his eyes
And weep that I am not less worldly wise.
Published in Saturday Evening Quill, 1930