SCRoots, THE WIFE

THE WIFE
by Anna P. Dinnies

I could have stemmed misfortune's tide,
   And borne the rich one's sneer,
Have braved the haughty glance of pride,
   Nor shed a single tear:
I could have smiled on every blow
   From Life's full quiver thrown,
While I might gaze on thee, and know
   I should not be "alone."

I could-I think I could have brooked,
   E'en for a time, that thou
Upon my fading face hadst looked
   With less of love than now;
For then I should at least have felt
   The sweet hope still my own,
To win thee back, and, while I dwelt
   On earth, not be "alone."

But thus, to see, from day to day,
   Thy brightening eye and cheek,
And watch thy life-sands waste away,
   Unnumbered, slow and meek;
To meet thy smiles of tenderness,
   And catch the feeble tone
Of kindness, ever breathed to bless,
   And feel, I'll be "alone."

To mark thy strength each hour decay,
   And yet thy hopes grow stronger,
As, filled with heavenward trust, they say,
   "Earth may not claim thee longer;"
Nay, dearest, 'tis too much-this heart
   Must break, when thou art gone;
It must not be-we may not part-
   I can not live "alone."

Anna Peyre Schackleford Dinnies (1816-1886) was born in Georgetown, South Carolina, and educated in Charleston. At an early age she married journalist John C. Dinnies and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, thence, years later, to New Orleans. Anna was a writer of stories and poems. Her works were published under the pseudonym, Moina. An illustrated collection of her verse titled "The Floral Year" was published in 1845.

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