The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-02
THE PHANTOM KISS.
BY IT. s. KELLER.

aLook on my face am less fair
 Than erst was of old, when you swore love and laid your heart Upon my altar's hold Is not my beauty's grace as rare
 As twas on yesterdayl Are not the smiles of love as sweet
 Which round my features playl Red lips you kissed in days agone
 When you stood by my side, And took my trembling hand in yours, And asked me to be your bride. An, love, you cannot now forget
 The zephyrs soft and low: Their echoed cadences must melt
 Your heart beneath its snow. My heart, here, lay your hand upon
 And feel it's throbbing beat. My Godi why is woman's heart
 Without its king depletel Can you forget the words that fell
 From of your lips in bliss Can you forget the passions spell
 That fingered in kissi Your face is chill as chillest stone;
 You turn your eyes away; You speak my God that icy tone;
 beg you, pray you, stay! Think of a world of darkest night
 With no redeeming sweet; Think of life without light
 To beckon it's retreat. And you'd consign a heart as true
 AS ever throbbed-to this We'll, be 1t SO you'll live to rue
 An icy phantom kiss. When gentlest slumber steals athwart The busy cares of life When soft you gaze upon the face
 Ofnewiy welded wife: I'll come, a phantom thing of fear,
 Close, close up to your side I'll rob you of your bosom's cheer
 And freeze your cherished bride. Think not the waves that roll above
 My form within the deep, Shall Stay my phantom form afar,
 Or my face from you keep. Farewell leave you with your thoughts Another's hand may hold Your own in welded bonds of law;
 Both hearts are mine to mould. "Oh. greedy monsters of the deep
 Fling far your scornful boast; Dash high your sullen waters black
 Against the rock-bound coast. Drink up the silver stars of night
 And quaff the moons pale ray; Tonight you list my tale of blight
 And suck my aife away. greet you, monsters of the deep,
 Here with your ebb and flow; He would not listen to my tale
 Of woman's overthrow. An, me! his cruel heart was bound
 By bonds of icy steel; My tears they could not melt the links
 Nor find his comforts veal. Oh, God ! how chill the night looks on Yes: patience see-I come" The stars look down and smile upon
 he greedy monsters home. The Christmas cheers over there stretching
 afar, The snowy crust sprinkled with many a star Outlimns the grim shadows of boughs that
 are bare, Whose fitting contortions but mock the
 moons stare. The guests have departed the bride and the
 groom Are standing alone in the dim-lighted room The brides cheeks are flushed with the roses
 of bliss Rare blushes that glow heath the marital
 kiss, For brsath that is icy and chill whispers
 clear: ' Yes; give her the roses to night if you may Tomorrow upon her white bosom they'll lay, All withered and blasted like promises frail That vanish as dewdrops before the suns
 pale. Kiss back tine red roses a i1and's at her heart See how her blush fades heath the chill of
 my dart" The bride like an aspen is trembling and
 white; In her eyes are the glaze of an omnous fright. h tones that were faltering, sore with distress She echoed the pain of her hearts quick
 duress: felt it here close to my bosom so chill A hand that was icy feel it here still. saw sad face that was pallid and pale, Rise up tween us two like a ghostly white
 veil. felt my bliss vanish-a lost paradise !" The night shadows filter across the pale The stars hide away in the vault of the sky An owl from its covert sends forth on the
 night It's ominous echoes that quaver and die. From the dim lighted room where the wax candles burn, But faintly relieving the pail of the gloom Comes the scream of disaster-a minds over
 turR. The bride is bereft aught of reason has fled; Her heart it may beat, bu, her mind it is dead, Chill and pallid, man standing close by her
 side, Cares dewn on the wreck that was wrough,
 by his hand. My God it is true! have lost my fair bride; She was kissed by the lips from far away
 land" She was kissed by the lips that you kissed long agol'' interrupted voice like an echo of woe.
 - -YenkeyJ Gazehs.
 HERMAN AND LUDWIG.