The courtship of Miles Standish and other poems . um? ^2 THE COURTSHIP OF Certainly you can forgive me for speaking sofrankly, for saying What I ought not to have said, yet now I cannever unsay it; For there are moments in life, when the heart isso full of emotion, That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depthslike a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and itssecret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never begathered together. Yesterday I was shocked, when I heard youspeak of Miles Standish, Praising his virtues, transforming his very de-fects into virtues. Praising his courag
The courtship of Miles Standish and other poems . um? ^2 THE COURTSHIP OF Certainly you can forgive me for speaking sofrankly, for saying What I ought not to have said, yet now I cannever unsay it; For there are moments in life, when the heart isso full of emotion, That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depthslike a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and itssecret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never begathered together. Yesterday I was shocked, when I heard youspeak of Miles Standish, Praising his virtues, transforming his very de-fects into virtues. Praising his courage and strength, and even hisfighting in Flanders, As if by fighting alone you could win the heart ofa woman, Quite overlooking yourself and the rest, in exalt-ing your hero. Therefore I spake as I did, by an irresistible im-pulse. You will forgive me, I hope, for the sake of thefriendship between us, MILES STANDISH 7Z Which is too true and too sacred to be so easily broken!Thereupon answered John Alden, the scholar, the friend of Miles Standish:. I was not angry with you, with myself alone I was angry,Seeing how badly I managed the matter I had in my keeping/- 74 THE COURTSHIP OF No! interrupted the maiden, with answer prompt and decisive;No; you were angry with me, for speaking so frankly and was wrong, I acknowledge; for it is the fate of a womanLong to be patient and silent, to wait like a ghost that is speechless,Till some questioning voice dissolves the spell of its is the inner life of so many suffering womenSunless and silent and deep, like subterranean riversRunning through caverns of darkness, unheard, unseen, and their channels of stone, with endless and profitless answered John Alden, the young man, the lover of women:Heaven forbid it, Priscilla; and truly they seem to me alwaysMore like the beautiful rivers that watered the garden of Eden,More like the river Euphrates, through deserts of Havilah flowing, M
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