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Home » Famous Poems » Ellis Parker Butler » A Lost Angel

A Lost Angel

by Ellis Parker Butler

 When first we met she seemed so white
 I feared her;
As one might near a spirit bright
 I neared her;
An angel pure from heaven above
 I dreamed her,
And far too good for human love
 I deemed her.

A spirit free from mortal taint
 I thought her,
And incense as unto a saint
 I brought her.


Well, incense burning did not seem
 To please her,
And insolence I feared she’d deem
 To squeeze her;
Nor did I dare for that same why
 To kiss her,
Lest, shocked, she’d cause my eager eye
 To miss her.

I sickened thinking of some way
 To win her,
When lo! she asked me, one fine day,
 To dinner!

Twas thus that made of common flesh
 I found her,
And in a mortal lover’s mesh
 I wound her.

Embraces, kisses, loving looks
 I gave her,
And buying bon-bons, flowers and books,
 I save her;
For her few honest, human taints
 I love her,
Nor would I change for all the saints
 Above her
Those eyes, that little face, that so
 Endear her,
And all the human joy I know
 When near her;
And I am glad, when to my breast
 I press her,
She’s just a woman, like the rest,
 God bless her!