Masked

She rose to greet her guests with smiling eyes, A wealth of rich experience in her face, Her movements full of that unconscious grace In which a woman's highest power lies; One felt the heart beat true and tenderwise Beneath the velvet folds and filmy lace, Grim sorrow there had seemed to find no place, But only peace and love in loveliest guise.

And as with ready wit and kindly mirth She led the throng in repartee and jest, To us she seemed as one from common earth, With all its blighting pain, set far apart And rounded in with peace — who could have guessed A two-edged sword lay buried in her heart !