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Home  »  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse  »  Sarah N. Cleghorn

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Socialist’s Marriage

Sarah N. Cleghorn

INTO the sunless office

Of the impoverished Onward

Where sat a frugal tailor,

Long risen before his shop-bell,

Painfully writing leaders

For the beloved propaganda—

Entered a sound of singing,

A gust of fresh air blowing;

And past the presses walking,

A bride in a bright white dress.

Herself like early woodflowers,

So thrilling, pale and fragrant,

Unveiled she was and barefoot.

Her hair was bright and burning,

Her shadowy eyes most tender.

As thus the orphan Poverty

Came to her long-trothed lover,

I think I saw before them

The shadow of Saint Francis

Rise up to be their groomsman.