The Village Wife's Lament Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A A BCBDEFGH ICICJKJK LMLMNOPO CQCQRSRS TUTUVWXW YZYZA2B2A2C2 A D2LE2L F2CF2G2 AH2AI2 A OCOCJ2K2J2L2 M2N2M2N2O2C2O2C2 P2Q2P2R2CP2CP2 X S2T2S2T2XU2XU2 P2V2P2TO2P2O2P2 X XXXXW2ZW2Z XP2XP2OP2OP2 X P2OP2OOP2OP2 OOOOX2E2X2E2 OP2OP2XY2XY2 Z2P2Z2P2P2A3P2A3 QLQLUP2Z2P2 X Z2KZ2KZ2XZ2X WP2WP2P2B3P2B3 P2P2P2P2WC3WC3 WLC3LP2C3P2C3 A A OP2OP2Z2LZ2L OE2OE2OP2OP2 P2P2P2P2P2P2P2P2 A O2Z2D3Z2P2EP2E P2XP2XE3F3E3F3 A XG3XL2P2P2P2P2 Z2H3Z2H3L2OL2O X B3P2B3P2B3P2B3P2 I3Q2I3Q2KZ2KZ2 X J3K3J3L3EOGO M3P2N3P2OXOX KXP2XP2Z2P2Z2 X XC3XC3P2Z2P2Z2 C3Z2C3Z2KLKO C3P2C3P2OP2OP2 Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2 C3C3C3C3Z2Z2Z2Z2 X LOLOXO3XO3 P2KKKZ2XZ2X P3Z2Q3Z2KZ2KZ2 P2Z2P2Z2KP2KP2 Z2Z2Z2Z2LZ2LZ2 Z2XZ2XR3OZ2O X Z2C3Z2C3N2N2N2N2 Z2R3Z2R3Z2KZ2K EXEX X X Z2WZ2WK3Z2K3Z2 P2P2P2P2XP2XP2 X Z2OZ2OZ2P2Z2P2 WOWOZ2KZ2K P2XP2XP2Z2P2Z2 P2P2P2P2Z2Z2Z2Z2 X P2XP2XP2Z2P2Z2 P2Z2P2Z2R3S3R3S3 C3P2C3P2C3P2C3P2 P2Z2P2Z2P2OP2O X R3P2R3P2P2XP2X X P2XP2XKC3KC3 P2P2P2P2C3XC3X X Z2OZ2OZ2T3Z2T3 P2P2P2P2Z2XZ2X P2XP2XP2KP2P2 X Z2XZ2XP2Z2P2Z2 KZ2KZ2P2P2P2P2 XZ2XZ2XR3XR3 P2P2P2P2OP2OP2 X X Z2P2Z2P2Z2KZ2K P2KP2KP2P2P2P2 X P2R3P2R3Z2C3Z2C3 XXXXXP2XP2 P2Z2P2Z2P2P2P2P2 R3P2R3P2Z2OZ2O X C3Z2C3Z2XZ2XZ2 Z2Z2Z2Z2XKXK X XP2XP2XXXX XC3XC3P2R3P2R3 R3XR3XP2XP2X X OP2XP2XKP2K XR3XR3Z2KZ2K P2XP2XKKKK P2XP2XXP2XP2 X XOXOR3C3R3C3 XOXOU3OU3O R3Z2R3Z2XR3XR3 KC3KC3XV3XV3 P2P2P2P2P2C3P2C3 X P2OP2OKXC3X XKXKKP2KP2 OXOXOXOX P2C3P2C3Z2XZ2X X P2P2P2P2P2OP2O R3P2R3P2 X X P2OP2OXOXO OP2OP2R3OR3O X KP2KP2P2C3P2C3 KP2KP2P2R3P2R3 C3Q2C3Q2XKXK P2P2P2P2P2OP2O P2P2P2P2S3P2S3P2 KP2KP2C3C3C3C3 OP2OP2C3R3C3R3 X P2P2P2P2XKXK X P2P2P2P2KP2KP2 P2P2P2P2XR2XQ2 P2P2P2P2C3P2C3C3 P2P2P2P2P2OP2O P2 XP2XP2P2OP2O R3P2R3P2R3P2R3K P2OP2OOR3OR3 XP2XP2P2OP2O C3KC3KXP2XP2 X P2P2P2P2P2R3P2R3 OP2R3P2P2P2P2P2 XP2XP2P2P2P2P2 X P2R3P2R3P2OP2O P2P2P2P2W3P2W3P2 P2XP2XR3P2R3P2 X C3R3C3R3P2R3P2R3 KP2KP2X3P2T3P2 R3OR3OY3XZ3X P2KP2KP2Q2P2Q2 P2P2P2P2P2C3P2C3 P2 P2P2P2P2XL3XK3 P2OP2OR3KR3K P2 P2C3P2C3 S3P2S3P2 P2XP2X A4OA4O C3C3C3C3 P2P2P2P2 KP2KP2 XXXX C3R3C3R3 P2R3P2R3 KOKO OKOK P2P2P2P2 P2KP2K KP2KP2 C3P2C3P2 P2P2P2P2 P2S3P2S3 P2C3P2C3 P2O2P2O2 X X R3S3C3S3 C3P2KP2 KOP2O P2P2P2P2 P2XKX KC3P2O X OOOOP2P2P2P2 OP2OP2B4P2B4P2 A4P2P2P2P2P2P2P2 C3P2C3P2KP2KP2 XP2XP2P2XP2X X P2XP2XP2P2P2P2 P2KP2KKR3KR3 XO2XO2P2P2P2P2 X P2P2P2P2P2P2P2P2 X OXOXP2XP2X XXXXXP2XP2 P2P2P2P2R3P2R3P2 XXXXXP2XP2 X P2P2P2P2P2XP2X P2P2P2P2P2P2P2P2 OP2OP2P2XP2X C4OC4OP2XP2X X OP2OP2 P2P2P2P2 OP2OP2 P2P2P2P2 X P2P2P2P2 P2P2P2P2 P2P2P2P2 KC3XC3 XP2XP2 XP2XP2 P2P2P2P2 P2P2P2P2 P2P2P2P2 P2 P2OP2OD4OD4O XP2XP2XOXO P2 P2KP2KOP2OP2 P2OP2OKP2KP2 P2P2P2P2OXOX X P2C3P2C3P2P2P2P2 C3OC3OP2P2P2P2 O2P2O2P2P2P2P2P2

I	A
	-
	-
i	A
	-
O what is this you've done to me	B
Or what have I done	C
That bare should be our fair roof tree	B
And I all alone	D
'Tis worse than widow I become	E
More than desolate	F
To face a worse than empty home	G
Without child or mate	H
	-
'Twas not my strife askt him his life	I
When it was but begun	C
Nor mine I was a new made wife	I
And now I am none	C
Nor mine that many a sapless ghost	J
Wails in sorrow fare	K
But this does cost my pride the most	J
That bloodshedding to share	K
	-
Image of streaming eyes tear gleaming	L
Of women foiled and defeat	M
I am like Christ shockt out of dreaming	L
Showing His hands and feet	M
Showing His feet and hands to God	N
Saying Are these in vain	O
For men I have trod the sorrowful road	P
And by them I am slain	O
	-
Seeing I have a breast in common	C
I must share in that shame	Q
Since from the womb of some poor woman	C
Each evil one came	Q
Every hot and blundering thought	R
Every hag rid will	S
And every haut king pride distraught	R
That drove men out to kill	S
	-
A woman's womb did fashion him	T
Her bosom was his nurse	U
And many women's eyes are dim	T
To see their sons a curse	U
Had I the wit some women have	V
To one such I would say	W
Think you this love the good Lord gave	X
Is yours to take away	W
	-
O Hand divine that for a sign	Y
Didst bend the rose red bow	Z
Betokening wrath was no more Thine	Y
With man's Cain branded brow	Z
What now O Lord shouldst Thou accord	A2
To such a shameful brood	B2
A bow as crimson as the sword	A2
Which men have soakt in blood	C2
	-
	-
ii	A
	-
I cannot see the grass	D2
Or feel the wind blowing	L
But I think of brother and brother	E2
And hot blood flowing	L
	-
The whole world akin	F2
And I an alien	C
Walk branded with the sin	F2
And the blood guilt of men	G2
	-
And often I cry	A
In my sharp distress	H2
It were better to die	A
Than know such bitterness	I2
	-
	-
iii	A
	-
The Lord of Life He did ordain	O
How this world should run	C
That Love should call thro' joy and pain	O
Two natures to be one	C
Now jags across the high God's plan	J2
Division like a scar	K2
For this is true that He made man	J2
But man made war	L2
	-
Had men the dower of teeth and claws	M2
And not a grace beside them	N2
Were they given wit to know the laws	M2
And hard hearts to outride them	N2
What drove them turn the sweet green earth	O2
Into a puddle of blood	C2
What drove them drown our simple mirth	O2
In salt tear flood	C2
	-
Has man been lifted up erect	P2
A lord of life and death	Q2
His world's elect and his brow deckt	P2
With murder for a wreath	R2
What shall be done with such an one	C
And whither he be hurl'd	P2
The Lord let crucify His Son	C
Who gibbetted His world	P2
	-
	-
iv	X
	-
Be it Pole Star or Southern Cross	S2
That shelters me or you	T2
The same things are gain and loss	S2
And the same things true	T2
The home love the mother love	X
The old old things	U2
The lad's love of maiden's love	X
That gives a man wings	U2
	-
And makes a maid stand still afraid	P2
Lest it were all a dream	V2
That he do think himself apaid	P2
If she be all to him	T
The arching earth has no more worth	O2
Than this to love to wed	P2
To serve the hearth to bring to birth	O2
To win your children's bread	P2
	-
	-
v	X
	-
The bee pills nothing for himself	X
Loading with gold his thigh	X
The martin twittering at his shelf	X
Glancing from the sky	X
Not greedy ease make slaves of these	W2
Nor yet endures the cow	Z
Her failing knees and agonies	W2
For price of joy I vow	Z
	-
A call above the spell of love	X
A crying and a need	P2
To make two one the fruit whereof	X
To nurture and to feed	P2
To brood to hoard to spend as rain	O
Virtue and tears and blood	P2
To get that you may give amain	O
Of such is parenthood	P2
	-
	-
vi	X
	-
I chose a heart out of a hundred	P2
To nest my own heart in	O
To have that plunder'd and two hearts sunder'd	P2
Who had heart for the sin	O
What woman's son that saw but one	O
Such sanctuary waste	P2
Could set his lips like ironstone	O
And raven broadcast	P2
	-
What harm did we to any man	O
That now I must moan	O
We did but follow Nature's plan	O
And cleave to our own	O
For Life it teaches you but this	X2
Seek you each other	E2
Rise up from your clasp and kiss	X2
A father and a mother	E2
	-
O piety of hand and knee	O
Of lips and bow'd head	P2
O ye who see a soul set free	O
Free when the heart is dead	P2
There is no rest but in the grave	X
Thither my wasted eyes	Y2
Turn for the only home they have	X
Where my true love lies	Y2
	-
There alongside his clay cold corse	Z2
I pray that mine may rest	P2
I'll warm him with my lover's force	Z2
And feed him at my breast	P2
I'll nurse him as I nurst his child	P2
The child he never saw	A3
The stricken child that never smil'd	P2
And scarce my milk could draw	A3
	-
Poor girls whose argument's the same	Q
For seeking or denying	L
Who kiss to shield yourselves from blame	Q
And kiss for justifying	L
How am I better now or worse	U
Beguiler or beguiled	P2
Who crave to nurse a clay cold corse	Z2
And kiss a dead child	P2
	-
	-
vii	X
	-
O I was shap't in comeliness	Z2
My face was fashion'd fair	K
My breath was sweet I used to bless	Z2
The treasure of my hair	K
A many prais'd my body's grace	Z2
And follow'd with the eye	X
My faring in the village ways	Z2
And I knew why	X
	-
Love came my way fire flusht and gay	W
Where I did stand	P2
This is the day your pride to lay	W
Under a true man's hand	P2
I bow'd my head to hear it said	P2
In words of long ago	B3
For ever since the world was made	P2
Our lot was order'd so	B3
	-
And I was bred in pious bed	P2
Brought up to be good	P2
Respect yourself my mother said	P2
And rule your own mood	P2
Fend for yourself while you're a may	W
And keep your own counsel	C3
And pick at what the neighbours say	W
As a bird picks at groundsel	C3
	-
But Love said Nay to Watch and Pray	W
When the birds were singing	L
And taught my heart a roundelay	C3
Like the bells a ringing	L
And so blindfast I ran and cast	P2
My treasure on the gale	C3
Would the storm blast had snapt the mast	P2
Before I fared to sail	C3
	-
	-
	-
	-
II	A
	-
	-
i	A
	-
Now that the Lord has open'd me	O
The evil with the good	P2
I am as one wise suddenly	O
Who never understood	P2
I see the shaping of my days	Z2
From the beginning	L
When a young child I walkt the ways	Z2
And knew nought of sinning	L
	-
I see how Nature ripen'd me	O
Under sun and shower	E2
As she ripens herb and tree	O
To bud and to flower	E2
As she ripens herb and tree	O
Unto flowering shoot	P2
So it was she ripen'd me	O
That I might fruit	P2
	-
I see alas how should I not	P2
With all joy behind	P2
How that in love I was begot	P2
And for love design'd	P2
Consentient my mother lent	P2
Blessing who had been blest	P2
That fount unspent my nourishment	P2
Which after swell'd my breast	P2
	-
	-
ii	A
	-
I learned at home the laws of Earth	O2
The nest law that says	Z2
Stray not too far beyond the hearth	D3
Keep truth always	Z2
And then the law of sip and bite	P2
Work that there may be some	E
For you who crowd the board this night	P2
And the one that is to come	E
	-
The laws are so for bird and beast	P2
And so we must live	X
They give the most who have the least	P2
And gain of what they give	X
For working women 'tis the luck	E3
A child on the lap	F3
And when a crust he learn to suck	E3
Another's for the pap	F3
	-
	-
iii	A
	-
I know 'tis true the laws of Life	X
Are holy to the poor	G3
Cleave you to her who is your wife	X
Trust you in her store	L2
Eat you with sweat your self won meat	P2
Labour the stubborn sod	P2
And that your heat may quicken it	P2
Wait still upon God	P2
	-
Hallow with praise the wheeling days	Z2
Until the cord goes slack	H3
Until the very heartstring frays	Z2
Until the stiffening back	H3
Can ply no more keep then the door	L2
And thankful in the sun	O
Watch you the same unending war	L2
Ontaken by your son	O
	-
	-
iv	X
	-
Who is to know how she does grow	B3
Or how shapes her mind	P2
The seasons flow not fast or slow	B3
We cannot lag behind	P2
The long winds blow a tree lies low	B3
That was an old friend	P2
The winter snow the summer's glow	B3
Shall these things have an end	P2
	-
When I was young I used to think	I3
I should not taste of death	Q2
And now I faint to reach the brink	I3
And grudge my every breath	Q2
That streameth to the utter air	K
Leaving me to my tears	Z2
And outlook bare with eyes astare	K
Upon the creeping years	Z2
	-
	-
v	X
	-
That little old house that seems to stoop	J3
Yellow under thatch	K3
Like a three sided chicken coop	J3
Where if you watch	L3
You'll see the starlings go and come	E
All a spring morn	O
Half of that is my old home	G
Where I was born	O
	-
One half a little old cottage	M3
The five of us had	P2
Five tall sisters in a cage	N3
With our Mother and Dad	P2
Alice she was the eldest one	O
Then Mary and then me	X
And then Fanny and little Joan	O
The last born was she	X
	-
Never a boy that liv'd to grow	K
Did our mother carry	X
She us'd to wonder how she'd do	P2
With five great girls to marry	X
But once I heard her say to Dad	P2
A chain of pretty girls	Z2
Made out her neck the comelier clad	P2
Than diamonds or pearls	Z2
	-
	-
vi	X
	-
How we did do on Father's money	X
Is more than I can tell	C3
There was the money from the honey	X
And Mother's work as well	C3
For she did work with no more rest	P2
Than the buzzing bees	Z2
And the sight I knew and lov'd the best	P2
Was Mother on her knees	Z2
	-
When we were fed and clean for school	C3
Out Mother goes	Z2
Rinsing rubbing her hands full	C3
Of other people's clothes	Z2
If there's one thought above another	K
Sets my heart singing	L
It's thinking of my little sweet Mother	K
Her arms full of linen	O
	-
And yet she rul'd her house and all	C3
Us girls within it	P2
There was no meal but we could fall	C3
To it at the minute	P2
Thing there was none said thought or done	O
But she must know it	P2
Nor any errand to be run	O
But she made us go it	P2
	-
She with her anxious watchful glance	Z2
Blue under her glasses	Z2
Was meat and drink and providence	Z2
To us five lasses	Z2
Out she fetcht from hidden stores	Z2
White frocks for Sundays	Z2
And always nice clean pinafores	Z2
Against school Mondays	Z2
	-
She and Dad were little people	C3
But most of us were tall	C3
And I shot up like Chichester steeple	C3
Fan she was small	C3
You never saw a kinder face	Z2
Or met with bluer eyes	Z2
If ever there was a kissing case	Z2
On her mouth it lies	Z2
	-
	-
vii	X
	-
When I was old enough for skipping	L
My school days began	O
By Mary's side you'd see me tripping	L
I was baby then	O
A B C and One two three	X
Were just so much Greek	O3
But I could read it seems to me	X
As soon as I could speak	O3
	-
Before I knew how fast I grew	P2
I was the tallest there	K
Before my time was two thirds thro'	K
I must plait my hair	K
Before our Alice took a place	Z2
And walkt beside her fancy	X
I had on my first pair of stays	Z2
And saw myself Miss Nancy	X
	-
And then goodbye to form and desk	P3
And sudden floods of noise	Z2
When fifteen minutes' fun and frisk	Q3
Make happy girls and boys	Z2
As shrill as swifts in upper air	K
Was our young shrillness	Z2
'Twas joy of life 'twas strength to fare	K
Broke the morning stillness	Z2
	-
I see us flit as here I sit	P2
With wet fring'd eyes	Z2
And never rime or reason to it	P2
Like a maze of flies	Z2
The boys would jump and catch your shoulder	K
Just for the fun of it	P2
They tease you worse as you grow older	K
Because you want none of it	P2
	-
I hear them call their saucy names	Z2
Mine was Maypole Nance	Z2
I see our windy bickering games	Z2
Half like a dance	Z2
The opening and closing ring	L
Of pinafored girls	Z2
And the wind that makes the cheek to sting	L
Blowing back their curls	Z2
	-
There in the midst is Sally Waters	Z2
As it might be I	X
With the idle song of Sons and Daughters	Z2
Drifting out and by	X
Sons and daughters Break break	R3
Heart if you can	O
How have they taught us treat sons and daughters	Z2
Since I began	O
	-
	-
viii	X
	-
There is a bank that always gets	Z2
The noon sun full	C3
There we'd hunt for violets	Z2
After morning school	C3
White and blue we hunted them	N2
In the moss and gave them	N2
Dropping tir'd and short in stem	N2
To Mother She must have them	N2
	-
Primrose mornings in the copse	Z2
Autumn berrying	R3
Where the dew for ever stops	Z2
And the serrying	R3
Clinging shrouds of gossamers	Z2
Glue your eyes together	K
Gleaning after harvesters	Z2
In the mild blue weather	K
	-
Life so full of bud and blossom	E
Fallen like a tree	X
Who gave me a woman's bosom	E
And who has robb'd me	X
	-
	-
	-
	-
III	X
	-
	-
i	X
	-
When from the folds the shepherd comes	Z2
At the shut of day	W
The fires are lit in valley homes	Z2
The smoke blue and grey	W
So still so still hangs o'er the thatch	K3
So still the night falls	Z2
My love might know me at the latch	K3
By my heart calls	Z2
	-
And hear you me my love this night	P2
Where Grief and I are set	P2
And look you for the beacon light	P2
And can you see it yet	P2
Or is the sod too deep my love	X
Which they piled over you	P2
Or are you bound in sleep my love	X
Lying in the dew	P2
	-
	-
ii	X
	-
When I was done with schooling days	Z2
Turn'd sixteen	O
My mother found me in a place	Z2
My own bread to win	O
I had not been a month in place	Z2
A month from the start	P2
When there show'd grace upon my face	Z2
That smote a man's heart	P2
	-
Tho' I was young and full of play	W
As full as a kitten	O
I knew to reckon to a day	W
When his heart was smitten	O
You'll pick my logic all to holes	Z2
But here's my wonder	K
It is that God should knit two souls	Z2
And men tear them asunder	K
	-
For we were knit no doubt of it	P2
I as well as he	X
I peered in glass my eyes were lit	P2
After he'd lookt at me	X
I knew not why my heart was glad	P2
Or why it leapt but so 'tis	Z2
The sharpest sweetest pang I've had	P2
Was when he took notice	Z2
	-
And 'tis not favour makes a lad	P2
To a girl's mind	P2
But 'tis himself makes good of bad	P2
Or her stone blind	P2
And men may cheer at tales of wars	Z2
But every girl knows	Z2
What makes her eyes to shine like stars	Z2
And her face a rose	Z2
	-
	-
iii	X
	-
No word he said but turned his head	P2
After he'd lookt at me	X
I coloured up a burning red	P2
Setting the cloth for tea	X
The board was spread with cakes and bread	P2
For farmer in his sleeves	Z2
For mistress and the shepherd Ted	P2
They talkt of hogs and theaves	Z2
	-
But nothing ate I where I sat	P2
So bashful as I was	Z2
But kept my eyes upon my plate	P2
And pray'd the minutes pass	Z2
Tic toc tic toc from great old clock	R3
The long hand did creep	S3
And every stroke in my heart woke	R3
Nature out of her sleep	S3
	-
So once they tell did Gabriel	C3
Name a young Maid	P2
For honour and a miracle	C3
And few words she said	P2
But things have changed a wondrous deal	C3
Since she was nam'd	P2
If to her room she did not steal	C3
As if she were asham'd	P2
	-
And there upon her bed to sit	P2
Astare as I guess	Z2
Watching her fingers weave and knit	P2
Bedded in her dress	Z2
A thinking thoughts in her young mind	P2
Too wild for tears to gain	O
As when the roaring North West wind	P2
Gives no time to the rain	O
	-
	-
iv	X
	-
Give thanks you maids that there's your work	R3
To keep your heart and head	P2
From thoughts that lurk in them who shirk	R3
Their daily round to tread	P2
But she goes bold who feels the hold	P2
And colour of her love	X
Laid on her task like water gold	P2
From the lit sky above	X
	-
	-
v	X
	-
I rose with early morning light	P2
The meadows grey with rime	X
To set the kitchen fire and dight	P2
The room for breakfast time	X
Or make the beds or rinse and scour	K
And all the while	C3
A singing heart a face aflower	K
And secret smile	C3
	-
So 'twas with me week in week out	P2
And no more to be said	P2
A moment's look a hint of doubt	P2
A half turn of the head	P2
I had my hands as full as full	C3
And full of work was he	X
But I learn'd in another school	C3
After he'd lookt at me	X
	-
	-
vi	X
	-
In summer time of flowers and bees	Z2
And flies on the pane	O
Before the sun could gild the trees	Z2
Or set afire the vane	O
Down I must go upon my knees	Z2
Or ply the showering mop	T3
Then feed the chicken ducks and geese	Z2
And milk the last drop	T3
	-
On winter mornings dark and hard	P2
White from aching bed	P2
There were the huddled fowls in yard	P2
All to be fed	P2
My frozen breath stream'd from my lips	Z2
The cows were hid in steam	X
I lost sense of my finger tips	Z2
And milkt in a dream	X
	-
My drowsy cheek fast to her side	P2
The pail below my arm	X
My thought leapt what might me betide	P2
And soon I was warm	X
For that gave me a beating heart	P2
And made me hot thro'	K
As when you reckon with a start	P2
Someone speaks of you	P2
	-
	-
vii	X
	-
And all my years of farm service	Z2
There was no dismay	X
But men and maids knew nought amiss	Z2
With their work or play	X
But grew amain like tree or beast	P2
Labouring out their lives	Z2
Till sap and milk fill'd spine and breast	P2
And ripen'd men and wives	Z2
	-
What call had we to think of war	K
We growing things	Z2
What need had we to reckon o'er	K
Misdoubts or threatenings	Z2
A soldier lad in his red coat	P2
Show'd up then as he past	P2
Like a lamplighted fishing boat	P2
Lonely in the vast	P2
	-
An aeroplane in middle sky	X
Might bring us to our doors	Z2
To see her like a dragon fly	X
Droning as she soars	Z2
Long before you see her come	X
You can hear her throbbing	R3
Far far away like a distant drum	X
Near like a thresher sobbing	R3
	-
Ah in those days of wonderment	P2
Wonder and delight	P2
No thought we spent what murder meant	P2
Horror in the night	P2
Or how a hidden dreadful plan	O
Like a fingering weed	P2
Was growing up in the mind of man	O
From a fungus seed	P2
	-
	-
	-
	-
IV	X
	-
	-
i	X
	-
Out of the clear how shrewdly blows	Z2
The North West wind	P2
Free as he goes how brave he shows	Z2
The sun seems blind	P2
The shadows fleet upon the grass	Z2
Where the kestrels hover	K
What leagues of sorrow they must pass	Z2
Before they shroud my lover	K
	-
Half naked now confronting cold	P2
The tall trees shiver	K
Each with its pool of pallid gold	P2
Draining down to the river	K
'Tis now when fret of winter wet	P2
Warns the year she is old	P2
And she casts robe and coronet	P2
That I would loosen hold	P2
	-
	-
ii	X
	-
Our lives creep on to change at last	P2
And change is sudden coming	R3
Rooted you see yourself and fast	P2
And then be sent roaming	R3
When I was come to twenty years	Z2
Home for a spell	C3
Mother she brought a flush of tears	Z2
With what she had to tell	C3
	-
There was a fine new place for me	X
Forty miles away	X
And where my dream of what might be	X
One fine day	X
The farmer's wife she kiss'd me kindly	X
When I was paid	P2
But Ted and I said Goodbye blindly	X
And no more said	P2
	-
No word between us of the thought	P2
That fill'd four years	Z2
No fond look caught by eyes well taught	P2
Tho' thick with tears	Z2
'Twas Goodbye Nance and Goodbye Ted	P2
And just a clasp of the hand	P2
Maybe I'll write he might have said	P2
For me to understand	P2
	-
But poor people have need to work	R3
Whether merry or sad	P2
Whatever groping thought do lurk	R3
Whatever dreams they've had	P2
I went my way and he kept his	Z2
I to the county town	O
He in a row of cottages	Z2
Below the hump backt down	O
	-
	-
iii	X
	-
A town bred girl her hair in curl	C3
And apron edged with lace	Z2
She took me in my head awhirl	C3
To my new place	Z2
And there the five of us must hive	X
In that warm shutter'd house	Z2
And keep our honesty alive	X
With none to counsel us	Z2
	-
The master and the mistresses	Z2
What were they but strangers	Z2
'Twas no part of their businesses	Z2
To think of servants' dangers	Z2
They sneer at us and we at them	X
Life sunders where the stairs are	K
But are the things that they condemn	X
In us much worse than theirs are	K
	-
	-
iv	X
	-
'Twas busy now I had to be	X
And keep myself neat	P2
Dress in my new black gown by tea	X
And streamer'd cap to it	P2
The brisk young men were plenty enough	X
And talk about them plenty	X
Among us maids No other stuff	X
Contents the tongue at twenty	X
	-
But Mother's words came back to me	X
Told when I was little	C3
Mind you the tongue's your only key	X
And what it guards is brittle	C3
Love is the best let go the rest	P2
But hold him by the wing	R3
Until he's plumaged for the test	P2
Then let him soar and sing	R3
	-
I took no harm of all their talk	R3
All talkt the same	X
Tho' more than one askt me to walk	R3
When my Sunday came	X
But I held fast the dream I'd had	P2
In the old farm	X
And saw myself beside my lad	P2
My hand on his arm	X
	-
	-
v	X
	-
A year went on and twenty one	O
Saw me discarded	P2
They laught at me for constancy	X
Ne'er to be rewarded	P2
Then came a warm still day of May	X
And brought me a letter	K
I blusht so red the cook she said	P2
Lucky man to get her	K
	-
At half past three he came for me	X
I dared not speak	R3
But there was all he need to see	X
Flaming in my cheek	R3
What better has the best of us	Z2
If kind Heaven grant her	K
A glowing hearth a little house	Z2
And a good man to want her	K
	-
In the soft shrouding clinging mist	P2
His strong arms held me	X
Our lips kept tryst and long we kiss'd	P2
His great love fill'd me	X
Sweet is the warmth of summer weather	K
But the best fire I know	K
Is of two pair of lips together	K
Two hearts in one glow	K
	-
His love he told that made me bold	P2
To look at him fairly	X
And see the burning blush take hold	P2
And colour him up rarely	X
Within his ply though caught was I	X
I backt a saucy head	P2
Oh I was shy a year gone by	X
Your turn now I said	P2
	-
	-
vi	X
	-
Now would you prove the man I love	X
As I saw him then	O
He was of them who're slow to move	X
One of your still men	O
One of your men self communing	R3
Who see sheep on a hill	C3
Ships out at sea or birds a wing	R3
Where you see nil	C3
	-
And what they see they seldom say	X
Holding speech to be vain	O
And yet so kin to earth are they	X
They smell the coming rain	O
The earth can teach them without speech	U3
They know as they are known	O
Why should they preach to the out of reach	U3
Or counsel Nature's own	O
	-
He never was a man to talk	R3
He was too wise	Z2
But things he'd see out on his walk	R3
Would blind another's eyes	Z2
But when it came to speak about them	X
'Twas another thing	R3
He'd say What use is it to shout them	X
I want to sing	R3
	-
A smallish head with jet black hair	K
And eyes grey blue	C3
You felt when'er he lookt you fair	K
That he must be true	C3
And when he smil'd his dear and shy way	X
Sidelong his mouth	V3
I always thought the sun fell my way	X
And the wind South	V3
	-
So I possest the knowledge blest	P2
That Love had held him fast	P2
Since the day our eyes confest	P2
The first time and the last	P2
Since then he said I never durst	P2
Look at you at all	C3
For fear you'd see the hunger and thirst	P2
That kept me like a thrall	C3
	-
	-
vii	X
	-
'Twas when you went away and left	P2
Me and pain alone	O
By fortune's theft I stood bereft	P2
Of all I'd counted on	O
And this also I ne'er could go	K
On my shepherd life	X
Without I had the grace to woo	C3
You my loving wife	X
	-
There was a fate I do believe	X
Call'd us together	K
God visit me when'er you grieve	X
Taking on my tether	K
But if we share with every creature	K
That is quick and dead	P2
The call of nature unto nature	K
Then we two should wed	P2
	-
You are a beauty bred and born	O
As any one can see	X
You walk the world as if in scorn	O
Of riches or degree	X
Your eyes call home the soft green tone	O
Of the fainting sky	X
When the eve star keeps watch alone	O
And the summer is nigh	X
	-
But 'tis your grave and constant mind	P2
Beckon'd me to you	C3
Too good too sweet too fond too kind	P2
For me to be untrue	C3
So trust me lass I'll not be false	Z2
While I do live	X
For we two go where Nature calls	Z2
As I believe	X
	-
	-
viii	X
	-
Trust Oh I could have sunk to ground	P2
And lain under his feet	P2
To have his praise was like a wound	P2
Throbbing and deadly sweet	P2
A wound that lets the welling blood	P2
Ebb from the vein	O
Merging the hurt in drowsihood	P2
And hushing down the pain	O
	-
High destiny of Nature's calling	R3
Foil'd and frustrate	P2
Just then the evil tide was crawling	R3
To drown love in hate	P2
	-
	-
	-
	-
V	X
	-
	-
i	X
	-
The meadows wear a cloth of gold	P2
The trees wear green	O
Upon the down in dimpled fold	P2
The white lambs glean	O
Deep blue the skyey canopy	X
Soft the wind's fan	O
Behold the earth as it might be	X
If man lov'd man	O
	-
Summer is soon the next new moon	O
Will see the yellowing wheat	P2
Then will be harvest Earth's high boon	O
To them that work for it	P2
The reapers swink the heat waves blink	R3
Across the drowsy fen	O
Now let hearts shrink from scythes that drink	R3
The blood of young men	O
	-
	-
ii	X
	-
As I stood at my open door	K
I caught a flying word	P2
Two strangers past Then that means war	K
That was what I heard	P2
'Twas ten o'clock a summer's day	P2
My love on the hill	C3
Then that means war I heard them say	P2
And my heart stood still	C3
	-
Life had been fair as I stood there	K
Eight weeks a bride	P2
All of me laid warm and bare	K
To my true love's side	P2
Oh who should dream of dark to morrows	P2
And lonely weeping	R3
Whose steadfast joys and passing sorrows	P2
Lay in such a keeping	R3
	-
There blew a chill wind from the hill	C3
Like a sea breath	Q2
I shiver'd and a taint of ill	C3
Brought news of death	Q2
I blinkt my eyes as who should try	X
To see what is to fear	K
The sun still shone high in the sky	X
But no warmth there	K
	-
Then far away I saw the sea	P2
A rippling golden sheet	P2
And courage flowed again in me	P2
What foe could break thro' it	P2
And all about the fields and hedges	P2
There when I was born	O
The river slipping through the sedges	P2
And the growing corn	O
	-
A land of quiet tilth and cote	P2
Of little woods and streams	P2
Of gentle skies and clouds afloat	P2
And swift sun gleams	P2
A land where knee deep cattle keep	S3
Chewing as they stand	P2
Of hillsides murmurous with sheep	S3
That is my native land	P2
	-
They say you never love so dear	K
As when you are to part	P2
I know to see my land so clear	K
Cut me to the heart	P2
What vain regrets to have lov'd so ill	C3
What was our all	C3
What idle vows to love her still	C3
Though she should fall	C3
	-
At stroke of noon my love came in	O
Sharpset for his food	P2
To see him was right sense to win	O
And feel safe and good	P2
I was asham'd my fears to tell	C3
Lest he should think	R3
I thought I knew this woman well	C3
But what makes her shrink	R3
	-
	-
iii	X
	-
The summer went her gracious way	P2
Of sun and lingering eves	P2
I did my share to win the hay	P2
The corn stood in sheaves	P2
Ere August month was fairly come	X
And when it was here	K
I knew I carried in my womb	X
The harvest of my dear	K
	-
	-
iv	X
	-
When I was sure I sat down quiet	P2
In the deep shade	P2
And if my heart was all in riot	P2
I was not afraid	P2
I did not think nor say a pray'r	K
But lookt straight before me	P2
And felt that Someone else stood there	K
With hands held o'er me	P2
	-
I thought His peace blest my increase	P2
But then as it seem'd	P2
A shadow made my joy to cease	P2
And the day was dimm'd	P2
I shiver'd as if one a knife	X
Should pull forth of the sheath	R2
I think just then the Lord of Life	X
Gave way to Him of Death	Q2
	-
As one bestead with gossamer thread	P2
I pluckt at my eyes	P2
To catch again the glory shed	P2
The hope the load the prize	P2
But no more hands invisible	C3
Held like a shade o'er me	P2
And there seem'd little enough to tell	C3
My husband momently	C3
	-
The long forenoon my thought I held	P2
And yet all thro' it	P2
The wires all England over shrill'd	P2
And I never knew it	P2
In a high muse I nurst my news	P2
All the forenoon	O
While England braced her limbs and thews	P2
To a marching tune	O
	-
	-
v	P2
	-
I serv'd my love when he came home	X
His meal then on his knee	P2
I told him what I might become	X
And he kiss'd me	P2
Then said Indeed there may be need	P2
Of this little one	O
For many a woman's heart must bleed	P2
For wanting of a son	O
	-
Since we awoke the word is spoke	R3
And if 'tis still right	P2
That English folk keep faith unbroke	R3
Then must England fight	P2
I could not look nor think nor ask	R3
What himself would do	P2
But call'd to task my pride to bask	R3
In what had warm'd me thro'	K
	-
Oh he was grave and self possest	P2
Under love's new crown	O
He took me in his arms to rest	P2
And lay my head down	O
A moment on his shoulder then	O
Went steady to his work	R3
I knew what fate soe'er call'd men	O
He was none to shirk	R3
	-
Now I must play the helpful wife	X
And my new pride	P2
Be little worth to ease the strife	X
That vext me in the side	P2
For like a green and aching wound	P2
Like a throbbing vein	O
I felt this terror on the ground	P2
Of young men slain	O
	-
The swooning summer sun sank low	C3
And all the dusty air	K
Held breathlessly beneath his glow	C3
So tir'd so quiet and fair	K
I would not think that men could live	X
In such glory a minute	P2
To hate and grudge to slay and reive	X
Poor souls within it	P2
	-
	-
vi	X
	-
I heard fond crying in my ears	P2
Fond and vain regret	P2
For life as it had been ere tears	P2
Made women's eyes wet	P2
I saw arise the host of stars	P2
And listen'd to their song	R3
O we have seen a thousand wars	P2
And woe agelong	R3
	-
What are you men what are you women	O
But a shifting sand	P2
The tide of life is overbrimming	R3
God holds not His hand	P2
But all the evil with the good	P2
To His mill is grist	P2
He serves his mood now with man's blood	P2
Who serv'd it once with beast	P2
	-
So sang the stars That night our love	X
Burn'd at its holiest	P2
For aught we knew the same might prove	X
Our last in the nest	P2
But from the bed my passion pled	P2
O God let us be	P2
If woman's anguish her bestead	P2
Then forsake not me	P2
	-
	-
vii	X
	-
I dare not trace that watching space	P2
Of days too short too long	R3
Too long to wear a patient face	P2
Too short to wear a strong	R3
I us'd to think I'd have him choose	P2
His duty and begone	O
And then No no I dare not lose	P2
Him ere he take his son	O
	-
Too long too short the days to wait	P2
To plan and think and dread	P2
And happy we whose poor estate	P2
Claims our work for our bread	P2
Each day I went to scour and scrub	W3
As my mother us'd	P2
Or stood before the washing tub	W3
Where the linen sluiced	P2
	-
And so my love with careful hand	P2
And careful eye	X
Led his white flock about the land	P2
And I must sigh	X
There's no rebelling in a poor man's dwelling	R3
The roof stoops to the blast	P2
And no heart swelling meets God's compelling	R3
And what is cast is cast	P2
	-
	-
viii	X
	-
But as the tide crawls to his full	C3
Without your knowing	R3
Invading rock and filling pool	C3
Endlessly flowing	R3
Lo while you sit and look at it	P2
Idle little thinking	R3
The flood is brimming at your feet	P2
Lipping there and winking	R3
	-
The very same the Great War grew	K
Like a flowing tide	P2
It spread its channels thro' and thro'	K
The quiet countryside	P2
One day you'd stop a poster up	X3
And Lord how it glared	P2
The next there'd be a very crop	T3
And not a body stared	P2
	-
And then the lorries flung along	R3
By ones and twos and then	O
In snaky line some twenty strong	R3
Full of shouting men	O
They made me blench with noise and stench	Y3
But more I do believe	X
To know them gaining inch by inch	Z3
The earth whereby we live	X
	-
So faded fast the painted past	P2
Beneath the mist of war	K
One could not think life had been cast	P2
In sweet lines before	K
There was no list in that red mist	P2
For love or wholesome breath	Q2
But making rage our staple grist	P2
We ground the dust of death	Q2
	-
Our men held talk among themselves	P2
But said little to we	P2
And soon they went by tens and twelves	P2
Soldiers to be	P2
I knew how 'twould be from the first	P2
I think my heart could tell	C3
I loved a man who never durst	P2
Not do well	C3
	-
	-
ix	P2
	-
How young how gay they marcht away	P2
All our village boys	P2
Leaving us women here to pray	P2
Drowning with their noise	P2
Misdoubt and eager mother love	X
Hungry on the watch	L3
As if they went to race and shove	X
In a football match	K3
	-
But my love chose in soberness	P2
Another way his own	O
And God I bless that my distress	P2
Came suddenly down	O
A swift November night was falling	R3
In a windless air	K
I heard him indoors heard him calling	R3
And went and he was there	K
	-
	-
x	P2
	-
He stood still and his gaze	P2
Was far off and slow	C3
And quiet the words he says	P2
Nancy I must go	C3
	-
In my still heart's deep	S3
I gloried in the trust	P2
He handed me to keep	S3
In his quiet I must	P2
	-
No more we said that night	P2
But sat in the gloom	X
We sat without candle light	P2
In our little room	X
	-
Handfast like girl and boy	A4
There we sat on	O
Hoarding our store of joy	A4
Against he were gone	O
	-
Handfast like boy and girl	C3
And my eyes they did fill	C3
But my heart was in a whirl	C3
To have him there still	C3
	-
'Twas when we were abed	P2
And I against his heart	P2
That I knew the great dread	P2
It would be to part	P2
	-
Old sayings that sounded new	K
Sweet every broken word	P2
My Nancy sweet and true	K
My pretty wild bird	P2
	-
I let him kiss me but I	X
Lay quite still in his arm	X
If I had started to cry	X
God only knew the harm	X
	-
And if he thought me cool	C3
'Twould make an easier going	R3
But if he thought me cool	C3
'Twas not for want of knowing	R3
	-
Towards the twilight gray	P2
When my love was sleeping	R3
I sat upright to pray	P2
And heard the sparrows cheeping	R3
	-
It was their fond love twitter	K
That broke my prayer down	O
Turn'd all my faith bitter	K
To set it by their own	O
	-
Their love life to begin	O
And mine now where	K
Their nest to win	O
Mine soon to be bare	K
	-
I lookt forth from my bed	P2
To the cold square of the light	P2
Unto God I said	P2
Show me why men must fight	P2
	-
You Who to each one say	P2
Love you one another	K
You Who bid women obey	P2
Husbands and sons their mother	K
	-
You Who of me require	K
To love what I cannot see	P2
Milk and a heart of fire	K
To nourish what may not be	P2
	-
Shall my milk be churn'd into gall	C3
Or my blood freeze at the fount	P2
And You make light of it all	C3
And my love of little account	P2
	-
Then as I held my throat	P2
God answer'd me by a bird	P2
One long flourishing note	P2
The bravest I ever heard	P2
	-
And I turn'd where my love lay fast	P2
In his wholesome sleep	S3
About him my arms I cast	P2
And found grace to weep	S3
	-
He would do what was right	P2
As I knew very well	C3
Yes but who made them fight	P2
And turn'd our heaven to hell	C3
	-
The more I listen the sighs	P2
The mourning and the dearth	O2
The deeper my heart cries	P2
Over this wounded earth	O2
	-
	-
	-
	-
VI	X
	-
	-
i	X
	-
May the good King	R3
That guards like sheep	S3
Kings and shepherds all	C3
Send us quiet sleep	S3
	-
Shepherds great and small	C3
Has He in hold	P2
There need no danger	K
Threaten field or fold	P2
	-
Lowly in a manger	K
That King was born	O
Of maid undefiled	P2
On a winter's morn	O
	-
He lay a little child	P2
On His mother's knee	P2
Three kings out of the East	P2
Came Him to see	P2
	-
On a mother's breast	P2
Still did He lie	X
Said one king to the other	K
Such once was I	X
	-
Then said his brother	K
Even thus I trow	C3
Once lay thy simplicity	P2
But where is that now	O
	-
	-
ii	X
	-
How many a woman's eyes are worn	O
Weeping a murder'd son	O
How many wish none they had borne	O
To do as theirs have done	O
Who dares to see a mask of hate	P2
And snarling on the face	P2
Which she had pray'd to consecrate	P2
To honour for a space	P2
	-
This high flusht lad whom she has known	O
Since as a new born child	P2
He lay as soft as thistle down	O
Or like an angel smil'd	P2
Whom she has seen a sturdy imp	B4
Tumble bare breecht at play	P2
Or nurst to health when quiet and limp	B4
Short breath'd and flusht he lay	P2
	-
Or shockhead boy aburst with joy	A4
Or gawky ill at ease	P2
All hot and coy a hobbledehoy	P2
With laces round his knees	P2
But hers her own with eyes that trust	P2
Hers for his better part	P2
Ah tiger lust of War that thrust	P2
A hand to snatch that heart	P2
	-
She hides her woe and helps him go	C3
She sits at home to pray	P2
He tells her when he met the foe	C3
But nothing of the way	P2
She never knows the way and who	K
Would know it if she could	P2
What in his fever heat he do	K
Of rage and dust and blood	P2
	-
The lads go by the colours fly	X
Drums rattle bugles bray	P2
We only cry Let mine not die	X
No thought for whom he slay	P2
But woman bares a martyr breast	P2
And herself points the flame	X
Her son a hero or a beast	P2
Will never be the same	X
	-
	-
iii	X
	-
When forth my love to duty went	P2
I sought my old home	X
My few months' joy over and spent	P2
And lean years to come	X
My mother blinkt her patient eyes	P2
She said It was to be	P2
Was I less temperate or more wise	P2
To question her decree	P2
	-
Was it for this our clasp and kiss	P2
For this end and no other	K
That I was shapt to have increase	P2
And call'd to be mother	K
Did God make o'er the power to soar	K
On men that they should sink	R3
Did He outpour a flood of war	K
And leave us on the brink	R3
	-
Was't so He wove the robe of Love	X
To mock the lovely earth	O2
Sees He above creation move	X
To death not birth	O2
Go thou dear head for God is dead	P2
And Death is our Lord	P2
Between us red lies in the bed	P2
War like a naked sword	P2
	-
	-
iv	X
	-
O failing heart accept your part	P2
And thank the Lord Who bound	P2
Your labour daily to the mart	P2
Your service to the ground	P2
Take to the mart your stricken heart	P2
Tho' the chaffer graze it	P2
Shrink not altho' the quick flesh smart	P2
But meet pain and praise it	P2
	-
	-
v	X
	-
He came to see me once again	O
Stiffen'd in his new buff	X
A few short hours compact of strain	O
Too hasty for love	X
For Love can never be confin'd	P2
But asks eternity	X
To nurse the lov'd one in the mind	P2
The bond must first be free	X
	-
And he he now serv'd otherwhere	X
And could not be the same	X
To all the world my love was there	X
And answer'd to his name	X
But not to me oh not to me	X
The kisses of his lips	P2
Were as of old but guardedly	X
Like sunlight in eclipse	P2
	-
The moment came I held him close	P2
But had no word to say	P2
Good bye sweetheart Good bye Blush Rose	P2
'Twas his old way	P2
Then in a hush which seem'd to rock	R3
Me like a leaf about	P2
I heard the pulsing of the clock	R3
Counting my dear life out	P2
	-
And I am here and you are where	X
While the long hours go by	X
And on my eyes the glaze of care	X
And in my heart a cry	X
Bury my heart deep in the grave	X
Where all its grace is hid	P2
What other service should I have	X
Than tend my lovely dead	P2
	-
	-
vi	X
	-
Then waiting watching judging news	P2
Then terror in the night	P2
I used to start up with the dews	P2
All over me of fright	P2
I dream'd of him on stormy seas	P2
Then in a woodland bare	X
I saw my love on hands and knees	P2
With blood upon his hair	X
	-
Along the limits of the wood	P2
A green bank full of holes	P2
With lichen'd stumps which lean'd or stood	P2
Like crazy channel poles	P2
'Twas there I saw my love's drawn face	P2
A face of paper white	P2
Wherein just for a choking space	P2
His eyes shone burning bright	P2
	-
Then faded and an eyeless man	O
He crawled along the wood	P2
And from his hair a black line ran	O
And broaden'd into blood	P2
It was not horror of him wrong'd	P2
It was not pity mov'd me	X
It was those tortur'd eyes belong'd	P2
To one who'd never lov'd me	X
	-
That was my love in face and shape	C4
That was my love in pain	O
But something told me past escape	C4
That not by him I'd lain	O
I sat and star'd into the night	P2
And still most dreadfully	X
I saw those two eyes burning white	P2
That never had seen me	X
	-
	-
vii	X
	-
Upon a wild March morn	O
My husband went to France	P2
The day my child was born	O
His word came to advance	P2
	-
'Twas on that very day	P2
When my life should be crown'd	P2
As I lay in he lay	P2
Broken upon the ground	P2
	-
For my loss there was gain	O
But his precious blood	P2
Was shed to earth like rain	O
Within the shatter'd wood	P2
	-
Missing the paper said	P2
But my heart said Nay	P2
Missing My man had been dead	P2
Before he went away	P2
	-
	-
viii	X
	-
It never throve from the first	P2
Mother she seem'd to fear it	P2
But her words were the worst	P2
Nancy you'll never rear it	P2
	-
Yet he took to the breast	P2
And I knew the great end	P2
Of women to give their best	P2
To spend and to spend	P2
	-
But his great eyes stared	P2
Till he seemed all eyes	P2
And more than I dared	P2
Meet looks so wise	P2
	-
Wondering and darkly blue	K
Pondering and slow	C3
They would look you thro' and thro'	X
Then tire and let you go	C3
	-
And fall back to vacancy	X
As if the poor thing plain'd	P2
Why was I not let be	X
And what have I gain'd	P2
	-
'Twas more than I could bear	X
I pray'd that he might die	P2
And God must have heard my prayer	X
For he went with a little sigh	P2
	-
A flutter a murmur a sigh	P2
Lighter than dawn wind	P2
It was his soft Good bye	P2
And all my life lay behind	P2
	-
I wonder if they were wise	P2
Those three kings of the East	P2
Who offer'd gifts of price	P2
To the Child on a Girl's breast	P2
	-
But if they were wise their sons	P2
Have other counsel than they	P2
The gifts they offer are guns	P2
And the children's parents they slay	P2
	-
	-
ix	P2
	-
He went before my load was quicken'd	P2
And I lay in alone	O
He was not there when baby sicken'd	P2
Nor when it was gone	O
I walkt with Mother to the church	D4
With Mother and Fan	O
My hard eyes ever on the search	D4
Pity me who can	O
	-
The grief was bad enough to bear	X
So dreadfully to wean it	P2
But to go home and leave it there	X
And he had never seen it	P2
It was a thing to thank God for	X
That home for me was none	O
I knew before we reacht the door	X
That my home life was done	O
	-
	-
x	P2
	-
Now limpt or dragg'd about our street	P2
The wounded men in blue	K
Trailing the feet which had been fleet	P2
Or crutching one for two	K
Like ghosts of men past out of ken	O
Pale and uncertain eyed	P2
Whose gaze would flicker out and then	O
Come back with hasty pride	P2
	-
What they had seen they never told	P2
Nor what they had done	O
I saw young lads turn'd suddenly old	P2
I saw the blind in the sun	O
Look up to pray as if the blue	K
Was shapt like a cross	P2
There came back one my husband knew	K
Spoke kindly of my loss	P2
	-
He told me how my love was dead	P2
He was not the first	P2
Broadcast our land the word of dread	P2
Told women the worst	P2
They say let love and light be given	O
So we keep Liberty	X
But I say there is no more Heaven	O
If men must so be free	X
	-
	-
xi	X
	-
Can it be own'd that kings were crown'd	P2
Consecrate to such evil	C3
God appointed by God anointed	P2
Only to play the devil	C3
Their men to bind of the tiger kind	P2
To bind and then to goad	P2
Blundering slavering hot and blind	P2
On murder's hollow road	P2
	-
If kings are so then let all go	C3
Let my dear love cast down	O
His lovely life so we lay low	C3
The last to wear a crown	O
I'll look upon the steadfast stars	P2
Patient and true and wise	P2
And read in them the end of wars	P2
As in my dead love's eyes	P2
	-
O Lord of Life for whom this earth	O2
Should image back Thy thought	P2
Wherein the mystery of birth	O2
In Love like Thine be wrought	P2
If pity stands with Thy commands	P2
Grant a short breathing space	P2
Ere men hold up their bloody hands	P2
Before Thy awful face	P2

Maurice Henry Hewlett

Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation

Previous Poem Hypsipyle Poem>>

About The Village Wife's Lament

The Village Wife's Lament is a poem by Maurice Henry Hewlett. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.

Write your comment about The Village Wife's Lament poem by Maurice Henry Hewlett

Best Poems of Maurice Henry Hewlett

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 26 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

The Sound Of Break
by Antipas Mede
A Simple Gift Of Clarity
by Michael Mcguire
Ring Of Fire
by N. Khanyile
A Disturbing Dream
by Marlon Pitter
Crab Lice
by Marlon Pitter
Biography Of The Anonymous
by Gilbert Sordebabari
Lost In Search Of A Saved Child
by Michael Mcguire
Dark Lens
by Gilbert Sordebabari
The Ship
by Pieter Sanders
Rose Bush
by Aubrie J Chellman

Popular Poets

1. Emily Dickinson(2415 poems)
2. Madison Julius Cawein(1231 poems)
3. Ella Wheeler Wilcox(1136 poems)
4. William Wordsworth(1016 poems)
5. Robert Burns(986 poems)
6. Edgar Albert Guest(945 poems)
7. Thomas Moore(849 poems)
8. Robert Service(831 poems)