ONLY A WOMAN'S HAIR.
[After the death of Dean Swift, there was found among his papers a small packet containing a single lock of hair and inscribed with the above words.]
'Only a woman's hair'! Fling it aside!
A bubble on Life's mighty stream:
Heed it not, man, but watch the broadening tide
Bright with the western beam.
Nay! In those words there rings from other years
The echo of a long low cry,
Where a proud spirit wrestles with his tears
In loneliest agony.
And as I touch that lock, strange visions rise
Before me in a shadowy throng—
Of woman's hair, the joy of lovers' eyes,
The theme of poet's song.
