This is part of the Women in Horror series throughout the month of March. See the other entries here.
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I have walked a great while over the snow,
And I am not tall nor strong.
My clothes are wet, and my teeth are set,
And the way was hard and long.
I have wandered over the fruitful earth,
But I never came here before.
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door!
The cutting wind is a cruel foe.
I dare not stand in the blast.
My hands are stone, and my voice a groan,
And the worst of death is past.
I am but a little maiden still,
My little white feet are sore.
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door!
Her voice was the voice that women have,
Who plead for their heart’s desire.
She came—she came—and the quivering flame
Sunk and died in the fire.
It never was lit again on my hearth
Since I hurried across the floor,
To lift her over the threshold, and let her in at the door.
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (23 September 1861 – 25 August 1907) was a British novelist and poet who also wrote essays and reviews. She wrote poetry under the pseudonym Anodos. Coleridge was educated at home by the poet W. J. Cory and thus began writing poetry as a young child. She traveled widely throughout her life and taught at the London Working Women’s College for twelve years from 1895 to 1907. Mary Elizabeth Coleridge completed five novels as well as hundreds of poems, stories, and reviews.
