AN OPEN SECRET.
♦Ah ! dost thou love and dare not tell it ? And canst,thou hide it in thine eyes ? And canst thou from thy Love conceal it ? And dost thou laugh to drown thy sighs ? Alas ! I love and must not say it ; My secret sweet I must not show, I dose mine eyes lest they betray me ; I close my lips that none may know. Yet can I hope to keep my secret When all earth's creatures tell it so ? They sing it, sigh it, and repeat it, Till all the world must know my woe 1 The nodding grasses tell my story, The flowers lisp it to the sun ; And all the birds, the chirping tattlers, They seem to know it— every one. Loud they sing it at my window, And I'm happy while alone ; But I tremble lest they sing it To some thoughtless careless one. Then the winds, how they repeat it, Till the crimson dyes my cheek For very fear lest all may hear it ; So I pray them not to speak. And the brook, while babbling onward, Bears my story to the sea ; Then I'm sure the clover knows it. Some one told it to the bee. I would gladly share my secret With the flowers, birds and sea ; But how wrong of them to tell itWhy are they so false to me ? —Lena Reed.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18920512.2.161
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1994, 12 May 1892, Page 37
Word Count
231
AN OPEN SECRET.
Otago Witness, Issue 1994, 12 May 1892, Page 37
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