Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/290

 284 THE UNBIDDEN GUEST.

Now a banker, grave in his speckless suit,

With satisfied, Dives air ; Now a maiden sweet as a drifted bloom ;

Now a matron young and fair. All these, in their turn, trod the shadowed aisle,

Led by courteous ushers bland, And with silken rustle soon grouped themselves

In the pews on either hand.

Still the echoing organ thrilled the air

Through the arches far and wide ; Eager faces turned to the dusky door

To watch for the coming bride, When it opened, shut, then I saw her float

Just within the unbidden one With a silver star on her robe ashine

Out of wondrous tissue spun.

Others saw her not. She was lowly born,

Her home was upon the moor, But the stars above, or an infant s breath,

Were not, than her life, more pure. Yet she seemed abashed, and she shrank away,

Home-sick, an unwelcome guest, Finding out, in truth, that Society

On her wider life sore pressed.

Just before the bride and her maids came in,

By a friendly zephyr fanned, She came hither too, down the fragrant aisle,

Never touching usher s hand ;

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