The Gentle Housewife / Rosamond Langbridge

The Gentle Wife
THERE’S the first white butterfly dancing abroad! There are wild wind-flowers dotting the sward; There are wild green breakers combing the bay; There’s a red ferret darting over the way! But I am chiding the children for being so wild;	       5 I am chiding the nurse for chiding the child; I am careful to lay down tea-leaves in the hall; I am gazing at that spot of mildew on the wall— And my heart is breaking, breaking, With the hatred of it all!