James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
February 13Only a Womans Hair
By James Ashcroft Noble (18441896)
“O
If ’twere a mocking sneer or the sharp cry
Of a great heart’s o’ermastering agony
That spake in these four words. Nevertheless,
One thing we know—that the long clinging tress
Had lived with Stella’s life in days gone by,
And, she being dead, lived on to testify
Of love’s victorious everlastingness.
For thy dear head’s repose a pillow rare:
With red of heart’s blood is the covering dyed,
And underneath—canst thou not feel it there?—
The rippling wavy wealth that was thy pride,
Now love’s last gift—only a woman’s hair!