Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/283

 BETTER THAN DIAMONDS.

So a solemn lull with the twilight fell, And the psalm in the sea-moan ended,

As the purple hush of the silent night On the scattered throng descended.

��BETTER THAN DIAMONDS.

YES, I was the belle of the ball, mamma Yes, I was the belle of the hall. All the men bowed down at my feet, mamrna,

And the women they envied all. But out in the wonderful solemn night,

As I came from the revel gay, How I felt rebuked by the holy stars And the gleam of the morning gray !

Oh what do the beautiful risen souls,

And what do the angel-bands, think Of the empty life of the butterfly

As it flits on the torrent s brink? I am sick at heart of it all, mamma,

Tho I was the belle of the ball, For between the bars of the gayest waltz

There re-echoed, &quot;And is this all?&quot;

Ah ! nobody saw how an angel stooped Lower down with his drooping wings ;

Human ears heard not the soft seraph speech As it whispered of heavenly things

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