The Portrait by Robert William Service
The portrait there above my bed They tell me is a work of art; My Wife,--since twenty years she's dead: Her going nearly broke my heart. Alas! No little ones we had To light our hearth with joy and glee; Yet as I linger lone and sad I know she's waiting me. The picture? Sargent painted it, And it has starred in many a show. Her eyes are on me where I sit, And follow me where'er I go. She'll smile like that when I am gone, And I am frail and oh so ill! Aye, when I'm waxen, cold and wan, Lo! She'll be smiling still.
So I have bade them slash in strips That relic of my paradise. Let flame destroy those lovely lips And char the starlight of her eyes! No human gaze shall ever see Her beauty,--stranger heart to stir: Nay, her last smile shall be for me, My last look be for her.
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