The Jealous Gods

From ImmortalPoetry
Jump to navigationJump to search

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

   ‘Oh life is wonderful,’ she said,
   ‘And all my world is bright;
   Can Paradise show fairer skies,
   Or more effulgent light?’
   (Speak lower, lower, mortal heart,
   The jealous gods may hear.)

   She turned for answer; but his gaze
   Cut past her like a lance,
   And shone like flame on one who came
   With radiant glance for glance.
   (You spoke too loud, O mortal heart,
   The jealous gods were near.)

   They walked through green and sunlit ways;
   And yet the earth seemed black,
   For there were three, where two should be;
   So runs the world, alack.
   (The listening gods, the jealous gods,
   They want no Edens here.)

from An Englishman and Other Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1912)


Add your comment
ImmortalPoetry welcomes all comments. If you do not want to be anonymous, register or log in. It is free.