VERSE: A WOMAN'S ANSWER

I will not let you say a Woman's part Must be to give exclusive love alone; Dearest, although I love you so, my heart Answers a thousand claims beside your own.

I love--what do I not love? earth and air Find space within my heart, and myriad things You would not deign to heed, are cherished there, And vibrate on its very inmost strings.

I love the summer with her ebb and flow Of light, and warmth, and music that have nurst Her tender buds to blossoms . . . and you know It was in summer that I saw you first.

I love the winter dearly too, . . . but then I owe it so much; on a winter's day, Bleak, cold, and stormy, you returned again, When you had been those weary months away.

I love the Stars like friends; so many nights I gazed at them, when you were far from me, Till I grew blind with tears . . . those far-off lights Could watch you, whom I longed in vain to see.

I love the Flowers; happy hours lie Shut up within their petals close and fast: You have forgotten, dear: but they and I Keep every fragment of the golden Past.

I love, too, to be loved; all loving praise Seems like a crown upon my Life,--to make It better worth the giving, and to raise Still nearer to your own the heart you take.

I love all good and noble souls;--I heard One speak of you but lately, and for days Only to think of it, my soul was stirred In tender memory of such generous praise.

I love all those who love you; all who owe Comfort to you: and I can find regret Even for those poorer hearts who once could know, And once could love you, and can now forget.

Well, is my heart so narrow--I, who spare Love for all these? Do I not even hold My favourite books in special tender care, And prize them as a miser does his gold?

The Poets that you used to read to me While summer twilights faded in

the sky; But most of all I think Aurora Leigh, Because--because--do you remember why?

Will you be jealous? Did you guess before I loved so many things?-- Still you the best:- Dearest, remember that I love you more, Oh, more a thousand times than all the rest!