Unwedded
Along her tranquil way she went,
The slow, sad course of changeless years,
While in her burned her youth unspent,
Dulled sometimes by her gentle tears.
In richer lives she saw the strange,
Sweet urgency of wedded days;
In dreams she watched her pale light change,
Into the steadfast altar blaze.
And, waking, sadly bowed above
Her slender vestal flame and wept;
Ah, better were the house of love,
By blighting fire and tempest swept.
Ada Foster Murray