The Sunbeam loved the Moonbeam, And followed her low and high, But the Moonbeam fled and hid her head, She was so shy--so shy. The Sunbeam wooed with passion; Ah, he was a lover bold! And his heart was afire with mad desire For the Moonbeam pale and cold. She fled like a dream before him, Her hair was a shining sheen, And oh, that Fate would annihilate The space that lay between! Just as the day lay panting In the arms of the twilight dim, The Sunbeam caught the one he sought And drew her close to him. But out of his warm arms, startled And stirred by Love’s first shock, She sprang afraid, like a trembling maid, And hid in the niche of a rock. And the Sunbeam followed and found her, And led her to Love’s own feast; And they were wed on that rocky bed, And the dying Day was their priest. And lo! the beautiful Opal-- That rare and wondrous gem-- Where the moon and sun blend into one, Is the child that was born to them. THE DIFFERENCE. Passion is what the sun feels for the earth When harvests ripen into golden birth. Lust is the hot simoon whose burning breath Sweeps o’er the fields with devastating death. Passion is what God felt, the Holy One, Who loved the world so, He begot his Son. Lust is the impulse Satan peering in To Eden had, when he taught Eve to sin. One sprang from light, and one from darkness grew How dim the vision that confounds the two! TWO LOVES. The woman he loved, while he dreamed of her, Danced on till the stars grew dim, But alone with her heart, from the world apart, Sat the woman who loved him. The woman he worshiped only smiled, When he poured out his passionate love. But the other somewhere, kissed her treasure most rare, A book he had touched with his glove. The woman he loved betrayed his trust, And he wore the scars for life; And he cared not, nor knew, that the other was true; But no man called her his wife. The woman he loved trod festal halls, While they sang his funeral hymn, But the sad bells tolled, ere the year was old, For the woman who loved him. THE WAY OF IT. This is the way of it, wide world over, One is beloved, and one is the lover, One gives and the other receives. One lavishes all in a wild emotion, One offers a smile for a life’s devotion, One hopes and the other believes, One lies awake in the night to weep, And the other drifts off in a sweet sound sleep.