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margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } + + .first { margin-top: 0 !important; + text-indent: 0 !important } + .last { margin-bottom: 0 !important } + + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } + img.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; max-width: 25% } + span.dropspan { font-variant: small-caps } + + .no-page-break { page-break-before: avoid !important } + + /* PAGINATION */ + + @media screen { + .coverpage, .frontispiece, .titlepage, .verso, .dedication, .plainpage + { margin: 10% 0; } + + div.clearpage, div.cleardoublepage + { margin: 10% 0; border: none; border-top: 1px solid gray; } + + .vfill { margin: 5% 10% } + } + + @media print { + div.clearpage { page-break-before: always; padding-top: 10% } + div.cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 10% } + + .vfill { margin-top: 20% } + h2.title { margin-top: 20% } + } + + /*]]>*/ + </style> + <title>THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET</title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + .pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } + .pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } + .lineno { position: absolute; left: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } + .lineno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } + .toc-pageref { float: right } + pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } + /*]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41468 ***</div> + <div class="document" id="the-widow-in-the-bye-street"> + <h1 class="center document-title level-1 pfirst title"><span class="x-large">THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET</span></h1><!-- this is the default PG-RST stylesheet --> + <!-- figure and image styles for non-image formats --> + <!-- default transition --> + <!-- default attribution --> + <!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> + <div class="clearpage"></div><!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> + <div class="align-None container coverpage"> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"></div> + <div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 53%" id="figure-10"> + <span id="cover"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-cover.jpg" /> + <div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin"> + <span class="italics">Cover</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + </div> + <div class="align-None container titlepage"> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="x-large">THE WIDOW IN THE<br /> + BYE STREET</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">BY<br /> + JOHN MASEFIELD</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">LONDON<br /> + SIDGWICK & JACKSON LTD.<br /> + 3 ADAM STREET, ADELPHI<br /> + MCMXII</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + </div> + <div class="align-None container verso"> + <p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics small">Entered at the Library of Congress, Washington, U.S.A.</em> <span class="small"><br /></span><em class="italics small">All rights reserved</em></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics small">Second Thousand</em></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + </div> + <div class="align-None container dedication"> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">TO<br /> + MY WIFE</span></p> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">I</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Down Bye Street, in a little Shropshire town,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There lived a widow with her only son:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had no wealth nor title to renown,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nor any joyous hours, never one.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She rose from ragged mattress before sun</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And stitched all day until her eyes were red,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And had to stitch, because her man was dead.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sometimes she fell asleep, she stitched so hard,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Letting the linen fall upon the floor;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And hungry cats would steal in from the yard,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And mangy chickens pecked about the door</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Craning their necks so ragged and so sore</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To search the room for bread-crumbs, or for mouse,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But they got nothing in the widow's house.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mostly she made her bread by hemming shrouds</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For one rich undertaker in the High Street,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Who used to pray that folks might die in crowds</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And that their friends might pay to let them lie sweet;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when one died the widow in the Bye Street</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Stitched night and day to give the worm his dole.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The dead were better dressed than that poor soul.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her little son was all her life's delight,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For in his little features she could find</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A glimpse of that dead husband out of sight,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where out of sight is never out of mind.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And so she stitched till she was nearly blind,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or till the tallow candle end was done,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To get a living for her little son.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her love for him being such she would not rest,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It was a want which ate her out and in,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Another hunger in her withered breast</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Pressing her woman's bones against the skin.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To make him plump she starved her body thin.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he, he ate the food, and never knew,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He laughed and played as little children do.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When there was little sickness in the place</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She took what God would send, and what God sent</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Never brought any colour to her face</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nor life into her footsteps when she went</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Going, she trembled always withered and bent</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For all went to her son, always the same,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He was first served whatever blessing came.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sometimes she wandered out to gather sticks,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For it was bitter cold there when it snowed.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And she stole hay out of the farmer's ricks</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For bands to wrap her feet in while she sewed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when her feet were warm and the grate glowed</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She hugged her little son, her heart's desire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With 'Jimmy, ain't it snug beside the fire?'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So years went on till Jimmy was a lad</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And went to work as poor lads have to do,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then the widow's loving heart was glad</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To know that all the pains she had gone through</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the years of putting on the screw,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Down to the sharpest turn a mortal can,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Had borne their fruit, and made her child a man.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He got a job at working on the line</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Tipping the earth down, trolly after truck,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>From daylight till the evening, wet or fine,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With arms all red from wallowing in the muck,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And spitting, as the trolly tipped, for luck,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And singing 'Binger' as he swung the pick</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Because the red blood ran in him so quick.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So there was bacon then, at night, for supper</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In Bye Street there, where he and mother stay;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And boots they had, not leaky in the upper,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And room rent ready on the settling day;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And beer for poor old mother, worn and grey,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And fire in frost; and in the widow's eyes</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It seemed the Lord had made earth paradise.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And there they sat of evenings after dark</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Singing their song of 'Binger,' he and she,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her poor old cackle made the mongrels bark</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And 'You sing Binger, mother,' carols he;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By crimes, but that's a good song, that her be':</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then they slept there in the room they shared,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the time fate had his end prepared.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One thing alone made life not perfect sweet:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The mother's daily fear of what would come</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When woman and her lovely boy should meet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When the new wife would break up the old home.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Fear of that unborn evil struck her dumb,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when her darling and a woman met,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She shook and prayed, 'Not her, O God; not yet.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Not yet, dear God, my Jimmy go from me.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then she would subtly question with her son.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Not very handsome, I don't think her be?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'God help the man who marries such an one.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her red eyes peered to spy the mischief done.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She took great care to keep the girls away,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all her trouble made him easier prey.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There was a woman out at Plaister's End,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Light of her body, fifty to the pound,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A copper coin for any man to spend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Lovely to look on when the wits were drowned.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her husband's skeleton was never found,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It lay among the rocks at Glydyr Mor</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where he drank poison finding her a whore.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was not native there, for she belonged</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Out Milford way, or Swansea; no one knew.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had the piteous look of someone wronged,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna,' her name, a widow, last of Triw.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had lived at Plaister's End a year or two;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>At Callow's cottage, renting half an acre;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was a hen-wife and a perfume-maker.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Secret she was; she lived in reputation;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But secret unseen threads went floating out:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her smile, her voice, her face, were all temptation,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All subtle flies to trouble man the trout;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Man to entice, entrap, entangle, flout...</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To take and spoil, and then to cast aside:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Gain without giving was the craft she plied.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And she complained, poor lonely widowed soul,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How no one cared, and men were rutters all;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While true love is an ever-burning goal</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Burning the brighter as the shadows fall.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all love's dogs went hunting at the call,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Married or not she took them by the brain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sucked at their hearts and tossed them back again.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Like the straw fires lit on Saint John's Eve,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She burned and dwindled in her fickle heart;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For if she wept when Harry took his leave,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her tears were lures to beckon Bob to start.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And if, while loving Bob, a tinker's cart</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Came by, she opened window with a smile</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And gave the tinker hints to wait a while.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She passed for pure; but, years before, in Wales,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Living at Mountain Ash with different men,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her less discretion had inspired tales</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of certain things she did, and how, and when.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Those seven years of youth; we are frantic then.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had been frantic in her years of youth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The tales were not more evil than the truth.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had two children as the fruits of trade</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Though she drank bitter herbs to kill the curse,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Both of them sons, and one she overlaid,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The other one the parish had to nurse.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Now she grew plump with money in her purse,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Passing for pure a hundred miles, I guess,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>From where her little son wore workhouse dress.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There with the Union boys he came and went,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A parish bastard fed on bread and tea,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Wearing a bright tin badge in furthest Gwent,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And no one knowing who his folk could be.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His mother never knew his new name: she,--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She touched the lust of those who served her turn,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And chief among her men was Shepherd Ern.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A moody, treacherous man of bawdy mind,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Married to that mild girl from Ercall Hill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whose gentle goodness made him more inclined</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To hotter sauces sharper on the bill.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The new lust gives the lecher the new thrill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The new wine scratches as it slips the throat,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The new flag is so bright by the old boat.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern was her man to buy her bread and meat,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Half of his weekly wage was hers to spend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She used to mock 'How is your wife, my sweet?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or wail, 'O, Ernie, how is this to end?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or coo, 'My Ernie is without a friend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She cannot understand my precious life,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Ernie would go home and beat his wife.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So the four souls are ranged, the chess-board set,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The dark, invisible hand of secret Fate</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Brought it to come to being that they met</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>After so many years of lying in wait.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While we least think it he prepares his Mate.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mate, and the King's pawn played, it never ceases</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Though all the earth is dust of taken pieces.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">II</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>October Fair-time is the time for fun,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For all the street is hurdled into rows</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of pens of heifers blinking at the sun,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Lemster sheep which pant and seem to doze,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And stalls of hardbake and galanty shows,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And cheapjacks smashing crocks, and trumpets blowing,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And the loud organ of the horses going.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There you can buy blue ribbons for your girl</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or take her in a swing-boat tossing high,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or hold her fast when all the horses whirl</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Round to the steam pipe whanging at the sky,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or stand her cockshies at the cocoa-shy,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or buy her brooches with her name in red,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or Queen Victoria done in gingerbread.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then there are rifle shots at tossing balls,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'And if you hit you get a good cigar.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And strength-whackers for lads to lamm with mauls,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Cheshire cheeses on a greasy spar.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The country folk flock in from near and far,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Women and men, like blow-flies to the roast,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All love the fair; but Anna loved it most.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna was all agog to see the fair;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She made Ern promise to be there to meet her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To arm her round to all the pleasures there,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And buy her ribbons for her neck, and treat her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So that no woman at the fair should beat her</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In having pleasure at a man's expense.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She planned to meet him at the chapel fence.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So Ernie went; and Jimmy took his mother,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dressed in her finest with a Monmouth shawl,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And there was such a crowd she thought she'd smother,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And O, she loved a pep'mint above all.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Clash go the crockeries where the cheapjacks bawl,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Baa go the sheep, thud goes the waxwork's drum,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Ernie cursed for Anna hadn't come.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He hunted for her up and down the place,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Raging and snapping like a working brew.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'If you're with someone else I'll smash his face,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when I've done for him I'll go for you.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He bought no fairings as he'd vowed to do</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For his poor little children back at home</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Stuck at the glass 'to see till father come.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Not finding her, he went into an inn,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Busy with ringing till and scratching matches.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where thirsty drovers mingled stout with gin</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And three or four Welsh herds were singing catches.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The swing-doors clattered, letting in in snatches</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The noises of the fair, now low, now loud.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern called for beer and glowered at the crowd.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While he was glowering at his drinking there</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In came the gipsy Bessie, hawking toys;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A bold-eyed strapping harlot with black hair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One of the tribe which camped at Shepherd's Bois.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She lured him out of inn into the noise</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of the steam-organ where the horses spun,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And so the end of all things was begun.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Newness in lust, always the old in love.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Put up your toys,' he said, 'and come along,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We'll have a turn of swing-boats up above,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And see the murder when they strike the gong.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Don't 'ee,' she giggled. 'My, but ain't you strong.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And where's your proper girl? You don't know me.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I do.' 'You don't.' 'Why, then, I will,' said he.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna was late because the cart which drove her</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Called for her late (the horse had broke a trace),</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was all dressed and scented for her lover,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her bright blue blouse had imitation lace,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The paint was red as roses on her face,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She hummed a song, because she thought to see</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How envious all the other girls would be.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When she arrived and found her Ernie gone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her bitter heart thought, 'This is how it is.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Keeping me waiting while the sports are on:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Promising faithful, too, and then to miss.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O, Ernie, won't I give it you for this.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And looking up she saw a couple cling,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern with his arm round Bessie in the swing.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern caught her eye and spat, and cut her dead,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bessie laughed hardly, in the gipsy way.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna, though blind with fury, tossed her head,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Biting her lips until the red was grey,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For bitter moments given, bitter pay,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The time for payment comes, early or late,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>No earthly debtor but accounts to Fate.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She turned aside, telling with bitter oaths</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What Ern should suffer if he turned agen,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And there was Jimmy stripping off his clothes</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Within a little ring of farming men.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, Jimmy, put the old tup into pen.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His mother, watching, thought her heart would curdle,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To see Jim drag the old ram to the hurdle.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then the ram butted and the game began,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Till Jimmy's muscles cracked and the ram grunted.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The good old wrestling game of Ram and Man,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>At which none knows the hunter from the hunted.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Come and see Jimmy have his belly bunted.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Good tup. Good Jim. Good Jimmy. Sick him, Rover,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>By dang, but Jimmy's got him fairly over.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then there was clap of hands and Jimmy grinned</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And took five silver shillings from his backers,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And said th'old tup had put him out of wind</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or else he'd take all comers at the Whackers.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And some made rude remarks of rams and knackers,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And mother shook to get her son alone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So's to be sure he hadn't broke a bone.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>None but the lucky man deserves the fair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For lucky men have money and success,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Things that a whore is very glad to share,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or dip, at least, a finger in the mess.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anne, with her raddled cheeks and Sunday dress,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Smiled upon Jimmy, seeing him succeed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As though to say, 'You are a man, indeed.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All the great things of life are swiftly done,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Creation, death, and love the double gate.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>However much we dawdle in the sun</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We have to hurry at the touch of Fate;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When Life knocks at the door no one can wait,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When Death makes his arrest we have to go.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And so with love, and Jimmy found it so.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love, the sharp spear, went pricking to the bone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In that one look, desire and bitter aching,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Longing to have that woman all alone</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For her dear beauty's sake all else forsaking;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And sudden agony that set him shaking</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Lest she, whose beauty made his heart's blood cruddle,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Should be another man's to kiss and cuddle.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was beside him when he left the ring,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her soft dress brushed against him as he passed her;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He thought her penny scent a sweeter thing</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Than precious ointment out of alabaster;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love, the mild servant, makes a drunken master.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She smiled, half sadly, out of thoughtful eyes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the strong young man was easy prize.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She spoke, to take him, seeing him a sheep,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'How beautiful you wrastled with the ram,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It made me all go tremble just to peep,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I am that fond of wrastling, that I am.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Why, here's your mother, too. Good-evening, ma'am.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I was just telling Jim how well he done,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How proud you must be of so fine a son.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Old mother blinked, while Jimmy hardly knew</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whether he knew the woman there or not;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But well he knew, if not, he wanted to,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Joy of her beauty ran in him so hot,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Old trembling mother by him was forgot,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While Anna searched the mother's face, to know</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whether she took her for a whore or no.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The woman's maxim, 'Win the woman first,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Made her be gracious to the withered thing.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'This being in crowds do give one such a thirst,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I wonder if they've tea going at "The King"?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My throat's that dry my very tongue do cling,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Perhaps you'd take my arm, we'd wander up</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>(If you'd agree) and try and get a cup.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Come, ma'am, a cup of tea would do you good;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There's nothing like a nice hot cup of tea</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>After the crowd and all the time you've stood;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And "The King's" strict, it isn't like "The Key,"</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Now, take my arm, my dear, and lean on me.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy's mother, being nearly blind,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Took Anna's arm, and only thought her kind.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So off they set, with Anna talking to her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How nice the tea would be after the crowd,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And mother thinking half the time she knew her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy's heart's blood ticking quick and loud,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Death beside him knitting at his shroud,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the High Street babbling with the fair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And white October clouds in the blue air.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So tea was made, and down they sat to drink;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O the pale beauty sitting at the board!</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There is more death in women than we think,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There is much danger in the soul adored,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The white hands bring the poison and the cord;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Death has a lodge in lips as red as cherries,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Death has a mansion in the yew-tree berries.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They sat there talking after tea was done,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy blushed at Anna's sparkling looks,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna flattered mother on her son,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Catching both fishes on her subtle hooks.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With twilight, tea and talk in ingle-nooks,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And music coming up from the dim street,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mother had never known a fair so sweet.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Now cow-bells clink, for milking-time is come,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The drovers stack the hurdles into carts,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>New masters drive the straying cattle home,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Many a young calf from his mother parts,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hogs straggle back to sty by fits and starts;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The farmers take a last glass at the inns,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now the frolic of the fair begins.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All of the side shows of the fair are lighted,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Flares and bright lights, and brassy cymbals clanging,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Beginning now' and 'Everyone's invited,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Shatter the pauses of the organ's whanging,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The Oldest Show on Earth and the Last Hanging,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The Murder in the Red Barn,' with real blood,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The rifles crack, the Sally shy-sticks thud.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna walked slowly homewards with her prey,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Holding old tottering mother's weight upon her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And pouring in sweet poison on the way</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of 'Such a pleasure, ma'am, and such an honour,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And 'One's so safe with such a son to con her</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Through all the noises and through all the press,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Boys daredn't squirt tormenters on her dress.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>At mother's door they stop to say 'Good-night.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And mother must go in to set the table.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna pretended that she felt a fright</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To go alone through all the merry babel:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My friends are waiting at "The Cain and Abel,"</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Just down the other side of Market Square,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It'd be a mercy if you'd set me there.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So Jimmy came, while mother went inside;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna has got her victim in her clutch.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy, all blushing, glad to be her guide,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thrilled by her scent, and trembling at her touch.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was all white and dark, and said not much;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She sighed, to hint that pleasure's grave was dug,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And smiled within to see him such a mug.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They passed the doctor's house among the trees,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She sighed so deep that Jimmy asked her why.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'm too unhappy upon nights like these,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When everyone has happiness but I!'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Then, aren't you happy?' She appeared to cry,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Blinked with her eyes, and turned away her head:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Not much; but some men understand,' she said.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her voice caught lightly on a broken note,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy half-dared but dared not touch her hand,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Yet all his blood went pumping in his throat</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Beside the beauty he could understand,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Death stopped knitting at the muffling band.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The shroud is done,' he muttered, 'toe to chin.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He snapped the ends, and tucked his needles in.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy, half stammering, choked, 'Has any man----'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He stopped, she shook her head to answer 'No.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Then tell me.' 'No. P'raps some day, if I can.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It hurts to talk of some things ever so.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But you're so different. There, come, we must go</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>None but unhappy women know how good</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It is to meet a soul who's understood.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No. Wait a moment. May I call you Anna?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Perhaps. There must be nearness 'twixt us two.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love in her face hung out his bloody banner,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all love's clanging trumpets shocked and blew.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'When we got up to-day we never knew.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'm sure I didn't think, nor you did.' 'Never.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'And now this friendship's come to us for ever.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, Anna, take my arm, dear.' 'Not to-night,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That must come later when we know our minds,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We must agree to keep this evening white,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We'll eat the fruit to-night and save the rinds.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the folk whose shadows darked the blinds,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the dancers whirling in the fair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Were wretched worms to Jim and Anna there.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'How wonderful life is,' said Anna, lowly.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'But it begins again with you for friend.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In the dim lamplight Jimmy thought her holy,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A lovely fragile thing for him to tend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Grace beyond measure, beauty without end.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna,' he said; 'Good-night. This is the door.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I never knew what people meant before.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Good-night, my friend. Good-bye.' 'But, O my sweet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The night's quite early yet, don't say good-bye,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Come just another short turn down the street,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The whole life's bubbling up for you and I.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Somehow I feel to-morrow we may die.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Come just as far as to the blacksmith's light.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But 'No' said Anna; 'Not to-night. Good-night.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All the tides triumph when the white moon fills.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Down in the race the toppling waters shout,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The breakers shake the bases of the hills,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There is a thundering where the streams go out,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And the wise shipman puts his ship about</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Seeing the gathering of those waters wan,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But what when love makes high tide in a man?</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy walked home with all his mind on fire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One lovely face for ever set in flame.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He shivered as he went, like tautened wire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Surge after surge of shuddering in him came</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then swept out repeating one sweet name,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna, O Anna,' to the evening star.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna was sipping whiskey in the bar.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So back to home and mother Jimmy wandered,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thinking of Plaister's End and Anna's lips.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He ate no supper worth the name, but pondered</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>On Plaister's End hedge, scarlet with ripe hips,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And of the lovely moon there in eclipse,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And how she must be shining in the house</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Behind the hedge of those old dog-rose boughs.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Old mother cleared away. The clock struck eight.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Why, boy, you've left your bacon, lawks a me,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So that's what comes of having tea so late,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Another time you'll go without your tea.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Your father liked his cup, too, didn't he,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Always "another cup" he used to say,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He never went without on any day.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How nice the lady was and how she talked,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I've never had a nicer fair, not ever.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'She said she'd like to see us if we walked</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To Plaister's End, beyond by Watersever.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nice-looking woman, too, and that, and clever;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We might go round one evening, p'raps, we two;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or I might go, if it's too far for you.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No,' said the mother, 'we're not folk for that;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Meet at the fair and that, and there an end.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Rake out the fire and put out the cat,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>These fairs are sinful, tempting folk to spend.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of course she spoke polite and like a friend;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of course she had to do, and so I let her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But now it's done and past, so I forget her.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I don't see why forget her. Why forget her?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She treat us kind. She weren't like everyone.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I never saw a woman I liked better,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he's not easy pleased, my father's son.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So I'll go round some night when work is done.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, Jim, my dear, trust mother, there's a dear.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Well, so I do, but sometimes you're so queer.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She blinked at him out of her withered eyes</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Below her lashless eyelids red and bleared.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her months of sacrifice had won the prize,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her Jim had come to what she always feared.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And yet she doubted, so she shook and peered</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And begged her God not let a woman take</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The lovely son whom she had starved to make.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Doubting, she stood the dishes in the rack,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'We'll ask her in some evening, then,' she said,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'How nice her hair looked in the bit of black.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And still she peered from eyes all dim and red</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To note at once if Jimmy drooped his head,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or if his ears blushed when he heard her praised,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy blushed and hung his head and gazed.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'This is the end,' she thought. 'This is the end.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll have to sew again for Mr Jones,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Do hems when I can hardly see to mend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And have the old ache in my marrow-bones.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when his wife's in child-bed, when she groans,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She'll send for me until the pains have ceased,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And give me leavings at the christening feast.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And sit aslant to eye me as I eat,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>"You're only wanted here, ma'am, for to-day,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Just for the christ'ning party, for the treat,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Don't ever think I mean to let you stay;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Two's company, three's none, that's what I say."</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life can be bitter to the very bone</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When one is poor, and woman, and alone.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Jimmy,' she said, still doubting, 'Come, my dear,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Let's have our "Binger," 'fore we go to bed,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then 'The parson's dog,' she cackled clear,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Lep over stile,' she sang, nodding her head.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'His name was little Binger.' 'Jim,' she said,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Binger, now, chorus' ... Jimmy kicked the hob,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The sacrament of song died in a sob.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy went out into the night to think</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Under the moon so steady in the blue.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The woman's beauty ran in him like drink,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The fear that men had loved her burnt him through;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The fear that even then another knew</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All the deep mystery which women make</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To hide the inner nothing made him shake.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna, I love you, and I always shall.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He looked towards Plaister's End beyond Cot Hills.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A white star glimmered in the long canal,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A droning from the music came in thrills.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love is a flame to burn out human wills,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love is a flame to set the will on fire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love is a flame to cheat men into mire.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One of the three, we make Love what we choose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But Jimmy did not know, he only thought</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That Anna was too beautiful to lose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That she was all the world and he was naught,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That it was sweet, though bitter, to be caught.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna, I love you.' Underneath the moon,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I shall go mad unless I see you soon.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The fair's lights threw aloft a misty glow.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The organ whangs, the giddy horses reel,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The rifles cease, the folk begin to go,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The hands unclamp the swing-boats from the wheel,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There is a smell of trodden orange peel;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The organ drones and dies, the horses stop,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then the tent collapses from the top.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The fair is over, let the people troop,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The drunkards stagger homewards down the gutters,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The showmen heave in an excited group,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The poles tilt slowly down, the canvas flutters,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The mauls knock out the pins, the last flare sputters.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Lower away.' 'Go easy.' 'Lower, lower.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You've dang near knock my skull in. Loose it slower.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Back in the horses.' 'Are the swing-boats loaded?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'All right to start.' 'Bill, where's the cushion gone?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The red one for the Queen?' 'I think I stowed it.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You think, you think. Lord, where's that cushion, John?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'It's in that bloody box you're sitting on,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What more d'you want?' A concertina plays</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Far off as wandering lovers go their ways.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Up the dim Bye Street to the market-place</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The dead bones of the fair are borne in carts,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Horses and swing-boats at a funeral pace</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>After triumphant hours quickening hearts;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A policeman eyes each waggon as it starts,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The drowsy showmen stumble half asleep,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One of them catcalls, having drunken deep.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So out, over the pass, into the plain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And the dawn finds them filling empty cans</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In some sweet-smelling dusty country lane,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where a brook chatters over rusty pans.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The iron chimneys of the caravans</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Smoke as they go. And now the fair has gone</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To find a new pitch somewhere further on.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But as the fair moved out two lovers came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ernie and Bessie loitering out together;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bessie with wild eyes, hungry as a flame,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern like a stallion tugging at a tether.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It was calm moonlight, and October weather,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So still, so lovely, as they topped the ridge.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They brushed by Jimmy standing on the bridge.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And, as they passed, they gravely eyed each other,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And the blood burned in each heart beating there;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And out into the Bye Street tottered mother,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Without her shawl, in the October air.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Jimmy,' she cried, 'Jimmy.' And Bessie's hair</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Drooped on the instant over Ernie's face,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And the two lovers clung in an embrace.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O, Ern.' 'My own, my Bessie.' As they kissed</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy was envious of the thing unknown.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So this was Love, the something he had missed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Woman and man athirst, aflame, alone.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Envy went knocking at his marrow-bone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna's face swam up so dim, so fair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Shining and sweet, with poppies in her hair.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">III</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>After the fair, the gang began again.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Tipping the trollies down the banks of earth.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The truck of stone clanks on the endless chain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A clever pony guides it to its berth.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Let go.' It tips, the navvies shout for mirth</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To see the pony step aside, so wise,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But Jimmy sighed, thinking of Anna's eyes.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when he stopped his shovelling he looked</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over the junipers towards Plaister way,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The beauty of his darling had him hooked,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He had no heart for wrastling with the clay.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O Lord Almighty, I must get away;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O Lord, I must. I must just see my flower,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Why, I could run there in the dinner hour.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The whistle on the pilot engine blew,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The men knocked off, and Jimmy slipped aside</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over the fence, over the bridge, and through,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then ahead along the water-side,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Under the red-brick rail-bridge, arching wide,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over the hedge, across the fields, and on;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The foreman asked: 'Where's Jimmy Gurney gone?'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It is a mile and more to Plaister's End,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But Jimmy ran the short way by the stream,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And there was Anna's cottage at the bend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With blue smoke on the chimney, faint as steam.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'God, she's at home,' and up his heart a gleam</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Leapt like a rocket on November nights,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And shattered slowly in a burst of lights.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna was singing at her kitchen fire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was surprised, and not well pleased to see</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A sweating navvy, red with heat and mire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Come to her door, whoever he might be.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But when she saw that it was Jimmy, she</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Smiled at his eyes upon her, full of pain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And thought, 'But, still, he mustn't come again.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>People will talk; boys are such crazy things;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But he's a dear boy though he is so green.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So, hurriedly, she slipped her apron strings,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And dabbed her hair, and wiped her fingers clean,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And came to greet him languid as a queen,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Looking as sweet, as fair, as pure, as sad,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As when she drove her loving husband mad.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Poor boy,' she said, 'Poor boy, how hot you are.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She laid a cool hand to his sweating face.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'How kind to come. Have you been running far?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'm just going out; come up the road a pace.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O dear, these hens; they're all about the place.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So Jimmy shooed the hens at her command,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And got outside the gate as she had planned.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna, my dear, I love you; love you, true;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I had to come--I don't know--I can't rest--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I lay awake all night, thinking of you.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Many must love you, but I love you best.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Many have loved me, yes, dear,' she confessed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She smiled upon him with a tender pride,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'But my love ended when my husband died.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Still, we'll be friends, dear friends, dear, tender friends;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love with its fever's at an end for me.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Be by me gently now the fever ends,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life is a lovelier thing than lovers see,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'd like to trust a man, Jimmy,' said she,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'May I trust you?' 'Oh, Anna dear, my dear----</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Don't come so close,' she said, 'with people near.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dear, don't be vexed; it's very sweet to find</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One who will understand; but life is life,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And those who do not know are so unkind.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But you'll be by me, Jimmy, in the strife,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I love you though I cannot be your wife;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now be off, before the whistle goes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or else you'll lose your quarter, goodness knows.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'When can I see you, Anna? Tell me, dear.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To-night? To-morrow? Shall I come to-night?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Jimmy, my friend, I cannot have you here;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But when I come to town perhaps we might.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dear, you must go; no kissing; you can write,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And I'll arrange a meeting when I learn</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What friends are doing' (meaning Shepherd Ern).</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Good-bye, my own.' 'Dear Jim, you understand.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If we were only free, dear, free to meet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dear, I would take you by your big, strong hand</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And kiss your dear boy eyes so blue and sweet;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But my dead husband lies under the sheet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dead in my heart, dear, lovely, lonely one,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So, Jim, my dear, my loving days are done.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But though my heart is buried in his grave</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Something might be--friendship and utter trust--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And you, my dear starved little Jim shall have</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Flowers of friendship from my dead heart's dust;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life would be sweet if men would never lust.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Why do you, Jimmy? Tell me sometime, dear,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Why men are always what we women fear.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Not now. Good-bye; we understand, we two,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And life, O Jim, how glorious life is;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>This sunshine in my heart is due to you;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I was so sad, and life has given this.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I think "I wish I had something of his,"</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Do give me something, will you be so kind?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Something to keep you always in my mind.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I will,' he said. 'Now go, or you'll be late.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He broke from her and ran, and never dreamt</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That as she stood to watch him from the gate</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her heart was half amusement, half contempt,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Comparing Jim the squab, red and unkempt,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In sweaty corduroys, with Shepherd Ern.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She blew him kisses till he passed the turn.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The whistle blew before he reached the line;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The foreman asked him what the hell he meant,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whether a duke had asked him out to dine,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or if he thought the bag would pay his rent?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jim was fined before the foreman went.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But still his spirit glowed from Anna's words,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Cooed in the voice so like a singing bird's.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O Anna, darling, you shall have a present;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'd give you golden gems if I were rich,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And everything that's sweet and all that's pleasant.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He dropped his pick as though he had a stitch,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And stared tow'rds Plaister's End, past Bushe's Pitch.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O beauty, what I have to give I'll give,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All mine is yours, beloved, while I live.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All through the afternoon his pick was slacking,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His eyes were always turning west and south,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The foreman was inclined to send him packing,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But put it down to after fair-day drouth;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He looked at Jimmy with an ugly mouth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy slacked, and muttered in a moan,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My love, my beautiful, my very own.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So she had loved. Another man had had her;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had been his with passion in the night;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>An agony of envy made him sadder,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Yet stabbed a pang of bitter-sweet delight--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O he would keep his image of her white.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The foreman cursed, stepped up, and asked him flat</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What kind of gum-tree he was gaping at.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It was Jim's custom, when the pay day came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To take his weekly five and twenty shilling</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Back in the little packet to his dame;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Not taking out a farthing for a filling,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nor twopence for a pot, for he was willing</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That she should have it all to save or spend.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But love makes many lovely customs end.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Next pay day came and Jimmy took the money,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But not to mother, for he meant to buy</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A thirteen-shilling locket for his honey,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whatever bellies hungered and went dry,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A silver heart-shape with a ruby eye.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He bought the thing and paid the shopman's price,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And hurried off to make the sacrifice.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Is it for me? You dear, dear generous boy.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How sweet of you. I'll wear it in my dress.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When you're beside me life is such a joy,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You bring the sun to solitariness.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She brushed his jacket with a light caress,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His arms went round her fast, she yielded meek;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He had the happiness to kiss her cheek.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My dear, my dear.' 'My very dear, my Jim,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How very kind my Jimmy is to me;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I ache to think that some are harsh to him;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Not like my Jimmy, beautiful and free.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My darling boy, how lovely it would be</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If all would trust as we two trust each other.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy's heart grew hard against his mother.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She, poor old soul, was waiting in the gloom</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For Jimmy's pay, that she could do the shopping.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The clock ticked out a solemn tale of doom;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Clogs on the bricks outside went clippa-clopping,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The owls were coming out and dew was dropping.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The bacon burnt, and Jimmy not yet home.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The clock was ticking dooms out like a gnome.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'What can have kept him that he doesn't come?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, they'd tell me if he'd come to hurt.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The unknown, unseen evil struck her numb,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She saw his body bloody in the dirt,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She saw the life blood pumping through the shirt,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She saw him tipsy in the navvies' booth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She saw all forms of evil but the truth.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>At last she hurried up the line to ask</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If Jim were hurt or why he wasn't back.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She found the watchman wearing through his task;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over the fire basket in his shack;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Behind, the new embankment rose up black.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Gurney?' he said. 'He'd got to see a friend.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Where?' 'I dunno. I think out Plaister's End.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thanking the man, she tottered down the hill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The long-feared fang had bitten to the bone.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The brook beside her talked as water will</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That it was lonely singing all alone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The night was lonely with the water's tone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And she was lonely to the very marrow.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love puts such bitter poison on Fate's arrow.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She went the long way to them by the mills,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She told herself that she must find her son.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The night was ominous of many ills;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The soughing larch-clump almost made her run,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her boots hurt (she had got a stone in one)</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And bitter beaks were tearing at her liver</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That her boy's heart was turned from her forever.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She kept the lane, past Spindle's, past the Callows',</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her lips still muttering prayers against the worst,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And there were people coming from the sallows,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Along the wild duck patch by Beggar's Hurst.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Being in moonlight mother saw them first,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She saw them moving in the moonlight dim,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A woman with a sweet voice saying 'Jim.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Trembling she grovelled down into the ditch,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They wandered past her pressing side to side.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O Anna, my belov'd, if I were rich.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It was her son, and Anna's voice replied,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Dear boy, dear beauty boy, my love and pride.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he: 'It's but a silver thing, but I</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Will earn you better lockets by and bye.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Dear boy, you mustn't.' 'But I mean to do.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'What was that funny sort of noise I heard?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Where?' 'In the hedge; a sort of sob or coo.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Listen. It's gone.' 'It may have been a bird.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim tossed a stone but mother never stirred.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She hugged the hedgerow, choking down her pain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While the hot tears were blinding in her brain.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The two passed on, the withered woman rose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For many minutes she could only shake,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Staring ahead with trembling little 'Oh's,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The noise a very frightened child might make.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O God, dear God, don't let the woman take</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My little son, God, not my little Jim.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, I'll have to starve if I lose him.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So back she trembled, nodding with her head,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Laughing and trembling in the bursts of tears,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her ditch-filled boots both squelching in the tread,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her shopping-bonnet sagging to her ears,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her heart too dumb with brokenness for fears.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The nightmare whickering with the laugh of death</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Could not have added terror to her breath.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She reached the house, and: 'I'm all right,' said she,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'll just take off my things; but I'm all right,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'd be all right with just a cup of tea,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If I could only get this grate to light,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The paper's damp and Jimmy's late to-night;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>"Belov'd, if I was rich," was what he said,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O Jim, I wish that God would kill me dead.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While she was blinking at the unlit grate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Scratching the moistened match-heads off the wood,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She heard Jim coming, so she reached his plate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And forked the over-frizzled scraps of food.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You're late,' she said, 'and this yer isn't good,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whatever makes you come in late like this?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I've been to Plaister's End, that's how it is.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You've been to Plaister's End?'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Yes.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I've been staying</span> + </div> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For money for the shopping ever so.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Down here we can't get victuals without paying,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There's no trust down the Bye Street, as you know,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now it's dark and it's too late to go.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You've been to Plaister's End. What took you there?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The lady who was with us at the fair.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The lady, eh? The lady?'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Yes, the lady.'</span> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You've been to see her?'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Yes.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'What happened then?'</span> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I saw her.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Yes. And what filth did she trade ye?</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or d'you expect your locket back agen?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I know the rotten ways of whores with men.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What did it cost ye?'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'What did what cost?'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'It.</span> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Your devil's penny for the devil's bit.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I don't know what you mean.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Jimmy, my own.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Don't lie to mother, boy, for mother knows.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I know you and that lady to the bone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And she's a whore, that thing you call a rose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A whore who takes whatever male thing goes;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A harlot with the devil's skill to tell</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The special key of each man's door to hell.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'She's not. She's nothing of the kind, I tell'ee.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You can't tell women like a woman can;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A beggar tells a lie to fill his belly,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A strumpet tells a lie to win a man,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Women were liars since the world began;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And she's a liar, branded in the eyes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A rotten liar, who inspires lies.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I say she's not.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No, don't'ee Jim, my dearie,</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You've seen her often in the last few days,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She's given a love as makes you come in weary</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To lie to me before going out to laze.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She's tempted you into the devil's ways,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She's robbing you, full fist, of what you earn,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In God's name, what's she giving in return?'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Her faith, my dear, and that's enough for me.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Her faith. Her faith. O Jimmy, listen, dear;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love doesn't ask for faith, my son, not he;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He asks for life throughout the live-long year,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And life's a test for any plough to ere</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life tests a plough in meadows made of stones,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love takes a toll of spirit, mind and bones.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I know a woman's portion when she loves,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's hers to give, my darling, not to take;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It isn't lockets, dear, nor pairs of gloves,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It isn't marriage bells nor wedding cake,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's up and cook, although the belly ache;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And bear the child, and up and work again,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And count a sick man's grumble worth the pain.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Will she do this, and fifty times as much?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No. I don't ask her.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No. I warrant, no.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She's one to get a young fool in her clutch,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And you're a fool to let her trap you so.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She love you? She? O Jimmy, let her go;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I was so happy, dear, before she came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now I'm going to the grave in shame.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I bore you, Jimmy, in this very room.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For fifteen years I got you all you had,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You were my little son, made in my womb,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Left all to me, for God had took your dad,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You were a good son, doing all I bade,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Until this strumpet came from God knows where,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now you lie, and I am in despair.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy, I won't say more. I know you think</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That I don't know, being just a withered old,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With chaps all fallen in and eyes that blink,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And hands that tremble so they cannot hold.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A bag of bones to put in churchyard mould,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A red-eyed hag beside your evening star.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy gulped, and thought 'By God, you are.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Well, if I am, my dear, I don't pretend.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I got my eyes red, Jimmy, making you.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My dear, before our love time's at an end</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Think just a minute what it is you do.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If this were right, my dear, you'd tell me true;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You don't, and so it's wrong; you lie; and she</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Lies too, or else you wouldn't lie to me.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Women and men have only got one way</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And that way's marriage; other ways are lust.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If you must marry this one, then you may,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If not you'll drop her.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No.' 'I say you must.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or bring my hairs with sorrow to the dust.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Marry your whore, you'll pay, and there an end.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My God, you shall not have a whore for friend.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>By God, you shall not, not while I'm alive.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Never, so help me God, shall that thing be.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If she's a woman fit to touch she'll wive,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If not she's whore, and she shall deal with me.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And may God's blessed mercy help us see</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And may He make my Jimmy count the cost,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My little boy who's lost, as I am lost.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>People in love cannot be won by kindness,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And opposition makes them feel like martyrs.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When folk are crazy with a drunken blindness,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's best to flog them with each other's garters,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And have the flogging done by Shropshire carters,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Born under Ercall where the while stones lie;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ercall that smells of honey in July.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy said nothing in reply, but thought</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That mother was an old, hard jealous thing.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'll love my girl through good and ill report,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I shall be true whatever grief it bring.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And in his heart he heard the death-bell ring</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For mother's death, and thought what it would be</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To bury her in churchyard and be free.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He saw the narrow grave under the wall,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Home without mother nagging at his dear,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna there with him at evenfall,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bidding him dry his eyes and be of cheer.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The death that took poor mother brings me near,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nearer than we have ever been before,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Near as the dead one came, but dearer, more.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Good-night, my son,' said mother. 'Night,' he said.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He dabbed her brow wi's lips and blew the light,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She lay quite silent crying on the bed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Stirring no limb, but crying through the night.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He slept, convinced that he was Anna's knight.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when he went to work he left behind</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Money for mother crying herself blind.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>After that night he came to Anna's call,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He was a fly in Anna's subtle weavings,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mother had no more share in him at all;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All that the mother had was Anna's leavings.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There were more lies, more lockets, more deceivings,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Taunts from the proud old woman, lies from him,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna's coo of 'Cruel. Leave her, Jim.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Also the foreman spoke: 'You make me sick,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You come-day-go-day-God-send-plenty-beer.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You put less mizzle on your bit of Dick,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or get your time, I'll have no slackers here,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I've had my eye on you too long, my dear.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy pondered while the man attacked,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'd see her all day long if I were sacked.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And trembling mother thought, 'I'll go to see'r.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She'd give me back my boy if she were told</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Just what he is to me, my pretty dear:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She wouldn't leave me starving in the cold,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Like what I am.' But she was weak and old.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She thought, 'But if I ask her, I'm afraid</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He'd hate me ever after,' so she stayed.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">IV</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bessie, the gipsy, got with child by Ern,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She joined her tribe again at Shepherd's Meen,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In that old quarry overgrown with fern,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where goats are tethered on the patch of green.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There she reflected on the fool she'd been,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And plaited kipes and waited for the bastard,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And thought that love was glorious while it lasted.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Ern the moody man went moody home,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To that most gentle girl from Ercall Hill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And bade her take a heed now he had come,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or else, by cripes, he'd put her through the mill.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He didn't want her love, he'd had his fill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thank you, of her, the bread and butter sack.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna heard that Shepherd Ern was back.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Back. And I'll have him back to me,' she muttered,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'This lovesick boy of twenty, green as grass,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Has made me wonder if my brains are buttered,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He, and his lockets, and his love, the ass.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I don't know why he comes. Alas! alas!</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>God knows I want no love; but every sun</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I bolt my doors on some poor loving one.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It breaks my heart to turn them out of doors,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I hear them crying to me in the rain;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One, with a white face, curses, one implores,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>"Anna, for God's sake, let me in again,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna, belov'd, I cannot bear the pain."</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Like hoovey sheep bleating outside a fold</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>"Anna, belov'd, I'm in the wind and cold."</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I want no men. I'm weary to the soul</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of men like moths about a candle flame,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of men like flies about a sugar bowl,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Acting alike, and all wanting the same,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My dreamed-of swirl of passion never came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>No man has given me the love I dreamed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But in the best of each one something gleamed.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If my dear darling were alive, but he...</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He was the same; he didn't understand.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The eyes of that dead child are haunting me,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I only turned the blanket with my hand.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It didn't hurt, he died as I had planned.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A little skinny creature, weak and red;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It looked so peaceful after it was dead.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I have been all alone, in spite of all.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Never a light to help me place my feet:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I have had many a pain and many a fall.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life's a long headache in a noisy street,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love at the budding looks so very sweet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Men put such bright disguises on their lust,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then it all goes crumble into dust.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy the same, dear, lovely Jimmy, too,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He goes the self-same way the others went:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I shall bring sorrow to those eyes of blue.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He asks the love I'm sure I never meant.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Am I to blame? And all his money spent!</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Men make this shutting doors such cruel pain.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O, Ern, I want you in my life again.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>On Sunday afternoons the lovers walk</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Arm within arm, dressed in their Sunday best,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The man with the blue necktie sucks a stalk,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The woman answers when she is addressed.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>On quiet country stiles they sit to rest,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And after fifty years of wear and tear</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They think how beautiful their courtships were.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy and Anna met to walk together</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The Sunday after Shepherd Ern returned;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna's hat was lovely with a feather</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bought and dyed blue with money Jimmy earned.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They walked towards Callows Farm, and Anna yearned:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Dear boy,' she said, 'This road is dull to-day,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Suppose we turn and walk the other way.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They turned, she sighed. 'What makes you sigh?' he asked.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Thinking,' she said, 'thinking and grieving, too.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Perhaps some wicked woman will come masked</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Into your life, my dear, to ruin you.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And trusting every woman as you do</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It might mean death to love and be deceived;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You'd take it hard, I thought, and so I grieved.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Dear one, dear Anna.' 'O my lovely boy,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life is all golden to the finger tips.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What will be must be: but to-day's a joy.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Reach me that lovely branch of scarlet hips.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He reached and gave; she put it to her lips.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'And here,' she said, 'we come to Plaister Turns.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then she chose the road to Shepherd Ern's.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As the deft angler, when the fishes rise,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Flicks on the broadening circle over each</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The delicatest touch of dropping flies,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then pulls more line and whips a longer reach,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Longing to feel the rod bend, the reel screech,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And the quick comrade net the monster out,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So Anna played the fly over her trout.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Twice she passed, thrice, she with the boy beside her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A lovely fly, hooked for a human heart,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She passed his little gate, while Jimmy eyed her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Feeling her beauty tear his soul apart:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then did the great trout rise, the great pike dart,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The gate went clack, a man came up the hill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The lucky strike had hooked him through the gill.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her breath comes quick, her tired beauty glows,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She would not look behind, she looked ahead.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It seemed to Jimmy she was like a rose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A golden white rose faintly flushed with red.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her eyes danced quicker at the approaching tread,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her finger nails dug sharp into her palm.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She yearned to Jimmy's shoulder, and kept calm.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Evening,' said Shepherd Ern. She turned and eyed him,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Cold and surprised, but interested too,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To see how much he felt the hook inside him,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And how much be surmised, and Jimmy knew,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And if her beauty still could make him do</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The love tricks he had gambolled in the past.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A glow shot through her that her fish was grassed.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Evening,' she said. 'Good evening.' Jimmy felt</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jealous and angry at the shepherd's tone;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He longed to hit the fellow's nose a belt,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He wanted his beloved his alone.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A fellow's girl should be a fellow's own.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern gave the lad a glance and turned to Anna,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim might have been in China by his manner.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Still walking out?' 'As you are.' 'I'll be bound.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Can you talk gipsy yet, or plait a kipe?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'll teach you if I can when I come round.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'And when will that be?' 'When the time is ripe.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy longed to hit the man a swipe</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Under the chin to knock him out of time,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But Anna stayed: she still had twigs to lime.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Come, Anna, come, my dear,' he muttered low.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She frowned, and blinked and spoke again to Ern.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I hear the gipsy has a row to hoe.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The more you hear,' he said, 'the less you'll learn.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'We've just come out,' she said, 'to take a turn;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Suppose you come along: the more the merrier.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'All right,' he said, 'but how about the terrier?'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He cocked an eye at Jimmy. 'Does he bite?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy blushed scarlet. 'He's a dear,' said she.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern walked a step, 'Will you be in to-night?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She shook her head, 'I doubt if that may be.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim, here's a friend who wants to talk to me,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So will you go and come another day?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By crimes, I won't!' said Jimmy, 'I shall stay.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I thought he bit,' said Ern, and Anna smiled,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jimmy saw the smile and watched her face</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>While all the jealous devils made him wild;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A third in love is always out of place;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then her gentle body full of grace</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Leaned to him sweetly as she tossed her head,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Perhaps we two'll be getting on,' she said.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They walked, but Jimmy turned to watch the third.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'm here, not you,' he said; the shepherd grinned:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna was smiling sweet without a word;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She got the scarlet berry branch unpinned.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'It's cold,' she said, 'this evening, in the wind.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A quick glance showed that Jimmy didn't mind her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She beckoned with the berry branch behind her,</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then dropped it gently on the broken stones,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Preoccupied, unheeding, walking straight,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Saying 'You jealous boy,' in even tones,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Looking so beautiful, so delicate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Being so very sweet: but at her gate</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She felt her shoe unlaced and looked to know</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If Ern had taken up the sprig or no.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He had, she smiled. 'Anna,' said Jimmy sadly,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'That man's not fit to be a friend of yourn,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He's nobbut just an oaf; I love you madly,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And hearing you speak kind to'm made me burn.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Who is he then?' She answered 'Shepherd Ern,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A pleasant man, an old, old friend of mine.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By cripes, then, Anna, drop him, he's a swine.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Jimmy,' she said, 'you must have faith in me,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Faith's all the battle in a love like ours.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You must believe, my darling, don't you see</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That life to have its sweets must have its sours.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Love isn't always two souls picking flowers.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You must have faith. I give you all I can.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What, can't I say "Good evening" to a man?'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Yes,' he replied, 'But not a man like him.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Why not a man like him?' she said, 'What next?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>By this they'd reached her cottage in the dim,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Among the daisies that the cold had kexed.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Because I say. Now, Anna, don't be vexed.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'm more than vexed,' she said, 'with words like these.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>"You say," indeed. How dare you. Leave me, please.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna, my Anna.' 'Leave me.' She was cold,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Proud and imperious with a lifting lip,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Blazing within, but outwardly controlled;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He had a colt's first instant of the whip.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The long lash curled to cut a second strip.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You to presume to teach. Of course, I know</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You're mother's Sunday scholar, aren't you? Go.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She slammed the door behind her, clutching skirts.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna.' He heard her bedroom latches thud.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He learned at last how bitterly love hurts;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He longed to cut her throat and see her blood,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To stamp her blinking eyeballs into mud.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Anna, by God!' Love's many torments make</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That tune soon change to 'Dear, for Jesus' sake.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He beat the door for her. She never stirred,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But primming bitter lips before her glass;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Admired her hat as though she hadn't heard,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And tried her front hair parted, and in mass.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She heard her lover's hasty footsteps pass.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He's gone,' she thought. She crouched below the pane,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And heard him cursing as he tramped the lane.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Rage ran in Jimmy as he tramped the night;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Rage, strongly mingled with a youth's disgust</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>At finding a beloved woman light,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all her precious beauty dirty dust;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A tinsel-varnish gilded over lust.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nothing but that. He sat him down to rage,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Beside the stream whose waters never age.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Plashing, it slithered down the tiny fall</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To eddy wrinkles in the trembling pool</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With that light voice whose music cannot pall,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Always the note of solace, flute-like, cool.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when hot-headed man has been a fool,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He could not do a wiser thing than go</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To that dim pool where purple teazles grow.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He glowered there until suspicion came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Suspicion, anger's bastard, with mean tongue,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To mutter to him till his heart was flame,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And every fibre of his soul was wrung,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That even then Ern and his Anna clung</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mouth against mouth in passionate embrace.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There was no peace for Jimmy in the place.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Raging he hurried back to learn the truth.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The little swinging wicket glimmered white,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The chimney jagged the skyline like a tooth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bells came in swoons for it was Sunday night.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The garden was all dark, but there was light</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Up in the little room where Anna slept:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The hot blood beat his brain; he crept, he crept.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Clutching himself to hear, clutching to know,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Along the path, rustling with withered leaves,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Up to the apple, too decayed to blow,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Which crooked a palsied finger at the eaves.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And up the lichened trunk his body heaves.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dust blinded him, twigs snapped, the branches shook,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He leaned along a mossy bough to look.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nothing at first, except a guttering candle</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Shaking amazing shadows on the ceiling,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then Anna's voice upon a bar of 'Randal,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where have you been:' and voice and music reeling,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Trembling, as though she sang with flooding feeling.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The singing stopped midway upon the stair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then Anna showed in white with loosened hair.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her back was towards him, and she stood awhile,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Like a wild creature tossing back her mane,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then her head went back, he saw a smile</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>On the half face half turned towards the pane;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her eyes closed, and her arms went out again.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim gritted teeth, and called upon his Maker,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She drooped into a man's arms there to take her.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Agony first, sharp, sudden, like a knife,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then down the tree to batter at the door;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Open there. Let me in. I'll have your life.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You Jezebel of hell, you painted whore,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Talk about faith, I'll give you faith galore.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The window creaked, a jug of water came</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over his head and neck with certain aim.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Clear out,' said Ern; 'I'm here, not you, to-night,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Clear out. We whip young puppies when they yap.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'If you're a man,' said Jim, 'Come down and fight,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll put a stopper on your ugly chap.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Go home,' said Ern; 'Go home and get your pap.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To kennel, pup, and bid your mother bake</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Some soothing syrup in your puppy cake.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There was a dibble sticking in the bed,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim wrenched it out and swung it swiftly round,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And sent it flying at the shepherd's head:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'll give you puppy-cake. Take that, you hound.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The broken glass went clinking to the ground,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The dibble balanced, checked, and followed flat.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My God,' said Ern, 'I'll give you hell for that.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He flung the door ajar with 'Now, my pup--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hold up the candle, Anna--now, we'll see.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By crimes, come on,' said Jimmy; 'Put them up.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Come, put them up, you coward, here I be.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Jim, eleven stone, what chance had he</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Against fourteen? but what he could he did;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern swung his right: 'That settles you, my kid.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy went down and out: 'The kid,' said Ern.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'A kid, a sucking puppy; hold the light.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Anna smiled: 'It gave me such a turn,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You look so splendid, Ernie, when you fight.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She looked at Jim with: 'Ern, is he all right?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He's coming to.' She shuddered, 'Pah, the brute.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What things he said'; she stirred him with her foot.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You go inside,' said Ern, 'and bolt the door,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll deal with him.' She went and Jimmy stood.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, pup,' said Ern, 'don't come round here no more.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'm here, not you, let that be understood.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I tell you frankly, pup, for your own good.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Give me my hat,' said Jim. He passed the gate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And as he tottered off he called, 'You wait.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Thanks, I don't have to,' Shepherd Ern replied;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You'll do whatever waiting's being done.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The door closed gently as he went inside,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The bolts jarred in the channels one by one.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'll give you throwing bats about, my son.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna.' 'My dear?' 'Where are you?' 'Come and find.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The light went out, the windows stared out blind.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Blind as blind eyes forever seeing dark.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And in the dim the lovers went upstairs,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her eyes fast closed, the shepherd's burning stark,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His lips entangled in her straying hairs,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Breath coming short as in a convert's prayers,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her stealthy face all drowsy in the dim</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And full of shudders as she yearned to him.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim crossed the water, cursing in his tears,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By cripes, you wait. My God, he's with her now</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all her hair pulled down over her ears;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Loving the blaggard like a filthy sow,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I saw her kiss him from the apple bough.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They say a whore is always full of wiles,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, how sweet her eyes are when she smiles.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Curse her and curse her. No, my God, she's sweet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's all a helly nightmare. I shall wake.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If it were all a dream I'd kiss her feet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I wish it were a dream for Jesus' sake.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One thing: I bet I made his guzzle ache,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I cop it fair before he sent me down,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll cop him yet some evening on the crown.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, O God, what pretty ways she had,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He's kissing all her skin, so white and soft.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She's kissing back. I think I'm going mad.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Like rutting rattens in the apple loft.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She held that light she carried high aloft</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Full in my eyes for him to hit me by,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I had the light all dazzling in my eye.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She had her dress all clutched up to her shoulder,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all her naked arm was all one gleam.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's going to freeze to-night, it's turning colder,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I wish there was more water in the stream,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'd drownd myself. Perhaps it's all a dream,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And bye and bye I'll wake and find it stuff;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>By crimes, the pain I suffer's real enough.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>About two hundred yards from Gunder Loss</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He stopped to shudder, leaning on the gate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He bit the touchwood underneath the moss;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Rotten, like her,' he muttered in his hate;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He spat it out again with 'But, you wait,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We'll see again, before to-morrow's past,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In this life he laughs longest who laughs last.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All through the night the stream ran to the sea,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The different water always saying the same,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Cat-like, and then a tinkle, never glee,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A lonely little child alone in shame.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>An otter snapped a thorn twig when he came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It drifted down, it passed the Hazel Mill,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It passed the Springs; but Jimmy stayed there still.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over the pointed hill-top came the light</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Out of the mists on Ercall came the sun,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Red like a huntsman halloing after night,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Blowing a horn to rouse up everyone;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Through many glittering cities he had run,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Splashing the wind vanes on the dewy roofs</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With golden sparks struck by his horses' hoofs.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The watchman rose, rubbing his rusty eyes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He stirred the pot of cocoa for his mate;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The fireman watched his head of power rise.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'What time?' he asked. 'You haven't long to wait.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, is it time?' 'Yes. Let her ripple.' Straight</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The whistle shrieked its message, 'Up to work!</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Up, or be fined a quarter if you shirk.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hearing the whistle, Jimmy raised his head,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The warning call, and me in Sunday clo'es;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'd better go; I've time. The sun looks red,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I feel so stiff' I'm very nearly froze.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So over brook and through the fields he goes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And up the line among the navvies' smiles,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Young Jimmy Gurney's been upon the tiles.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The second whistle blew and work began,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy worked too, not knowing what he did,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He tripped and stumbled like a drunken man;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He muddled all, whatever he was bid,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The foreman cursed, 'Good God, what ails the kid?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hi! Gurney. You. We'll have you crocking soon,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You take a lie down till the afternoon.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I won't,' he answered. 'Why the devil should I?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'm here, I mean to work. I do my piece,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or would do if a man could, but how could I</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then you come nagging round and never cease?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Well, take the job and give me my release,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I want the sack, now give it, there's my pick;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Give me the sack.' The sack was given quick.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">V</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dully he got his time-check from the keeper.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Curse her,' he said; 'and that's the end of whores'--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He stumbled drunkenly across a sleeper--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Give all you have and get kicked out a-doors.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He cashed his time-check at the station stores.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Bett'ring yourself, I hope, Jim,' said the master;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'That's it,' said Jim; 'and so I will do, blast her.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Beyond the bridge, a sharp turn to the right</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Leads to 'The Bull and Boar,' the carters' rest;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>An inn so hidden it is out of sight</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To anyone not coming from the west.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The high embankment hides it with its crest.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Far up above the Chester trains go by,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The drinkers see them sweep against the sky.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Canal men used it when the barges came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The navvies used it when the line was making;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The pigeons strut and sidle, ruffling, tame,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The chuckling brook in front sets shadows shaking.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Cider and beer for thirsty workers' slaking,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A quiet house; like all that God controls,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It is Fate's instrument on human souls.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thither Jim turned. 'And now I'll drink,' he said.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'll drink and drink--I never did before--</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll drink and drink until I'm mad or dead,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For that's what comes of meddling with a whore.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He called for liquor at 'The Bull and Boar';</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Moody he drank; the woman asked him why:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Have you had trouble?' 'No,' he said, 'I'm dry.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dry and burnt up, so give's another drink;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That's better, that's much better, that's the sort.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then he sang, so that he should not think,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His Binger-Bopper song, but cut it short.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His wits were working like a brewer's wort</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Until among them came the vision gleaming</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of Ern with bloody nose and Anna screaming.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'That's what I'll do,' he muttered; 'knock him out,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And kick his face in with a running jump.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll not have dazzled eyes this second bout,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And she can wash the fragments under pump.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It was his ace; but Death had played a trump.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Death the blind beggar chuckled, nodding dumb,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My game; the shroud is ready, Jimmy--come.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Meanwhile, the mother, waiting for her child,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Had tottered out a dozen times to search.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Jimmy,' she said, 'you'll drive your mother wild;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Your father's name's too good a name to smirch,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Come home, my dear, she'll leave you in the lurch;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He was so good, my little Jim, so clever;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He never stop a night away, not ever.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He never slept a night away till now,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Never, not once, in all the time he's been.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's the Lord's will, they say, and we must bow,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But O it's like a knife, it cuts so keen!</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He'll work in's Sunday clothes, it'll be seen,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then they'll laugh, and say "It isn't strange;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He slept with her, and so he couldn't change."</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Perhaps,' she thought, 'I'm wrong; perhaps he's dead;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Killed himself like; folk do in love, they say.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He never tells what passes in his head,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he's been looking late so old and grey.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A railway train has cut his head away,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Like the poor hare we found at Maylow's shack.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God have pity, bring my darling back!'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All the high stars went sweeping through the sky,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The sun made all the orient clean, clear gold,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O blessed God,' she prayed, 'do let me die,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or bring my wand'ring lamb back into fold.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The whistle's gone, and all the bacon's cold;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I must know somehow if he's on the line,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He could have bacon sandwich when he dine.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She cut the bread, and started, short of breath,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Up the canal now draining for the rail;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A poor old woman pitted against death,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bringing her pennyworth of love for bail.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Wisdom, beauty, and love may not avail.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She was too late. 'Yes, he was here; oh, yes.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He chucked his job and went.' 'Where?' 'Home, I guess.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Home, but he hasn't been home.' 'Well, he went.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Perhaps you missed him, mother.' 'Or perhaps</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He took the field path yonder through the bent.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He very likely done that, don't he, chaps?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The speaker tested both his trouser straps</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And took his pick. 'He's in the town,' he said.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He'll be all right, after a bit in bed.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She trembled down the high embankment's ridge</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Glad, though too late; not yet too late, indeed.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For forty yards away, beyond the bridge,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy still drank, the devil still sowed seed.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'A bit in bed,' she thought, 'is what I need.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll go to "Bull and Boar" and rest a bit,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They've got a bench outside they'd let me sit.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Even as two soldiers on a fortress wall</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>See the bright fire streak of a coming shell.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Catch breath, and wonder 'Which way will it fall?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To you? to me? or will it all be well?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ev'n so stood life and death, and could not tell</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Whether she'd go to th'inn and find her son,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or take the field and let the doom be done.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No, not the inn,' she thought. 'People would talk.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I couldn't in the open daytime; no.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll just sit here upon the timber balk,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll rest for just a minute and then go.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Resting, her old tired heart began to glow,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Glowed and gave thanks, and thought itself in clover,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He's lost his job, so now she'll throw him over.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sitting, she saw the rustling thistle-kex,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The picks flash bright above, the trollies tip.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The bridge-stone shining, full of silver specks,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And three swift children running down the dip.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A Stoke Saint Michael carter cracked his whip,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The water in the runway made its din.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She half heard singing coming from the inn.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She turned, and left the inn, and took the path</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And 'Brother Life, you lose,' said Brother Death,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Even as the Lord of all appointed hath</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In this great miracle of blood and breath.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He doeth all things well as the book saith,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He bids the changing stars fulfil their turn,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His hand is on us when we least discern.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Slowly she tottered, stopping with the stitch,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Catching her breath, 'O lawks, a dear, a dear.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How the poor tubings in my heart do twitch,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It hurts like the rheumatics very near.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And every painful footstep drew her clear</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>From that young life she bore with so much pain.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She never had him to herself again.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Out of the inn came Jimmy, red with drink,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Crying: 'I'll show her. Wait a bit. I'll show her.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You wait a bit. I'm not the kid you think.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'm Jimmy Gurney, champion tupper-thrower,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When I get done with her you'll never know her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Nor him you won't. Out of my way, you fowls,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Or else I'll rip the red things off your jowls.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He went across the fields to Plaister's End.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There was a lot of water in the brook,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sun and white cloud and weather on the mend</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For any man with any eyes to look.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He found old Callow's plough-bat, which he took,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My innings now, my pretty dear,' said he.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You wait a bit. I'll show you. Now you'll see.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her chimney smoke was blowing blue and faint,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The wise duck shook a tail across the pool,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The blacksmith's shanty smelt of burning paint,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Four newly-tired cartwheels hung to cool.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He had loved the place when under Anna's rule.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Now he clenched teeth and flung aside the gate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There at the door they stood. He grinned. 'Now wait.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern had just brought her in a wired hare,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She stood beside him stroking down the fur.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Oh, Ern, poor thing, look how its eyes do stare,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'It isn't it,' he answered. 'It's a her.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She stroked the breast and plucked away a bur,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She kissed the pads, and leapt back with a shout,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My God, he's got the spudder. Ern. Look out.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ern clenched his fists. Too late. He felt no pain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Only incredible haste in something swift,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A shock that made the sky black on his brain,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then stillness, while a little cloud went drift.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The weight upon his thigh bones wouldn't lift;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then poultry in a long procession came,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Grey-legged, doing the goose-step, eyes like flame.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Grey-legged old cocks and hens sedate in age,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Marching with jerks as though they moved on springs,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With sidelong hate in round eyes red with rage,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And shouldered muskets clipped by jealous wings,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then an array of horns and stupid things:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sheep on a hill with harebells, hare for dinner.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Hare.' A slow darkness covered up the sinner.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'But little time is right hand fain of blow.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Only a second changes life to death;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hate ends before the pulses cease to go,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There is great power in the stop of breath.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There's too great truth in what the dumb thing saith,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hate never goes so far as that, nor can.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I am what life becomes. D'you hate me, man?'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hate with his babbling instant, red and damning,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Passed with his instant, having drunken red.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You've killed him.'</span> + </div> + <div class="inner line-block"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No, I've not, he's only shamming.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Get up.' 'He can't.' 'O God, he isn't dead.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O God.' 'Here. Get a basin. Bathe his head.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ernie, for God's sake, what are you playing at?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I only give him one like, with the bat.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Man cannot call the brimming instant back;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Time's an affair of instants spun to days;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>If man must make an instant gold, or black,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Let him, he may, but Time must go his ways.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life may be duller for an instant's blaze.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Life's an affair of instants spun to years,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Instants are only cause of all these tears.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then Anna screamed aloud. 'Help. Murder. Murder.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By God, it is,' he said. 'Through you, you slut.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Backing, she screamed, until the blacksmith heard her.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Hurry,' they cried, 'the woman's throat's being cut.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jim had his coat off by the water butt.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He might come to,' he said, 'with wine or soup.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I only hit him once, like, with the scoop.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Splash water on him, chaps. I only meant</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To hit him just a clip, like, nothing more.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There. Look. He isn't dead, his eyelids went.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he went down. O God, his head's all tore.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I've washed and washed: it's all one gob of gore.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He don't look dead to you? What? Nor to you?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Not kill, the clip I give him, couldn't do.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'God send; he looks damn bad,' the blacksmith said.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Py Cot,' his mate said, 'she wass altogether;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She hass an illness look of peing ted.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Here. Get a glass,' the smith said, 'and a feather.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Wass you at fightings or at playings whether?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Here, get a glass and feather. Quick's the word.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The glass was clear. The feather never stirred.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By God, I'm sorry, Jim. That settles it.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By God. I've killed him then.' 'The doctor might.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Try, if you like; but that's a nasty hit.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Doctor's gone by. He won't be back till night.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Py Cot, the feather was not looking right.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By Jesus, chaps, I never meant to kill 'un.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Only to bat. I'll go to p'leece and tell 'un.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O Ern, for God's sake speak, for God's sake speak.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>No answer followed: Ern had done with dust,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The p'leece is best,' the smith said, 'or a beak.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll come along; and so the lady must.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Evans, you bring the lady, will you just?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Tell 'em just how it come, lad. Come your ways;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Joe, you watch the body where it lays.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They walked to town, Jim on the blacksmith's arm.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy was crying like a child, and saying,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I never meant to do him any harm.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>His teeth went clack, like bones at murmurs playing,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then he trembled hard and broke out praying,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'God help my poor old mother. If he's dead,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I've brought her my last wages home,' he said.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He trod his last free journey down the street;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Treading the middle road, and seeing both sides,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The school, the inns, the butchers selling meat,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The busy market where the town divides.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then past the tanpits full of stinking hides,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And up the lane to death, as weak as pith.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'By God, I hate this, Jimmy,' said the smith.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">VI</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Anna in black, the judge in scarlet robes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A fuss of lawyers' people coming, going,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The windows shut, the gas alight in globes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Evening outside, and pleasant weather blowing.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'They'll hang him?' 'I suppose so; there's no knowing.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'A pretty piece, the woman, ain't she, John?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He killed the fellow just for carrying on.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'She give her piece to counsel pretty clear.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Ah, that she did, and when she stop she smiled.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'She's had a-many men, that pretty dear;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She's drove a-many pretty fellows wild.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'More silly idiots they to be beguiled.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Well, I don't know.' 'Well, I do. See her eyes?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mystery, eh? A woman's mystery's lies.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Perhaps.' 'No p'raps about it, that's the truth.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I know these women; they're a rotten lot.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'You didn't use to think so in your youth.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'No; but I'm wiser now, and not so hot.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Married or buried,</span> <em class="italics">I</em> <span>say, wives or shot,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>These unmanned, unattached Maries and Susans</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Make life no better than a proper nuisance.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Well, I don't know.' 'Well, if you don't you will.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I look on women as as good as men.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, that's the kind of talk that makes me ill.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>When have they been as good? I ask you when?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Always they have.' 'They haven't. Now and then</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>P'raps one or two was neither hen nor fury.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'One for your mother, that. Here comes the jury.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Guilty. Thumbs down. No hope. The judge passed sentence;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'A frantic passionate youth, unfit for life,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A fitting time afforded for repentance,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then certain justice with a pitiless knife.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For her his wretched victim's widowed wife,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Pity. For her who bore him, pity. (Cheers.)</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The jury were exempt for seven years.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>All bowed; the Judge passed to the robing-room,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dismissed his clerks, disrobed, and knelt and prayed</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As was his custom after passing doom,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Doom upon life, upon the thing not made.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'O God, who made us out of dust, and laid</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thee in us bright, to lead us to the truth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, have pity upon this poor youth.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Show him Thy grace, O God, before he die;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Shine in his heart; have mercy upon me,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Who deal the laws men make to travel by</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Under the sun upon the path to Thee;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God Thou knowest I'm as blind as he,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As blind, as frantic, not so single, worse,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Only Thy pity spared me from the curse.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thy pity, and Thy mercy, God, did save,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thy bounteous gifts, not any grace of mine,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>From all the pitfalls leading to the grave,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>From all the death-feasts with the husks and swine.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>God, who hast given me all things, now make shine</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Bright in this sinner's heart that he may see.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>God, take this poor boy's spirit back to Thee.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Then trembling with his hands, for he was old,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He went to meet his college friend, the Dean,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The loiterers watched him as his carriage rolled.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'There goes the Judge,' said one, and one was keen:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Hanging that wretched boy, that's where he's been.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A policeman spat, two lawyers talked statistics,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'"Crime passionel" in Agricultural Districts.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'They'd oughtn't hang a boy': but one said 'Stuff.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>This sentimental talk is rotten, rotten.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The law's the law and not half strict enough,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Forgers and murderers are misbegotten,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Let them be hanged and let them be forgotten.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A rotten fool should have a rotten end;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mend them, you say? The rotten never mend.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And one 'Not mend? The rotten not, perhaps.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The rotting would; so would the just infected.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A week in quod has ruined lots of chaps</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Who'd all got good in them till prison wrecked it.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And one, 'Society must be protected.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He's just a kid. She trapped him.' 'No, she didden.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He'll be reprieved.' 'He mid be and he midden.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So the talk went; and Anna took the train,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Too sad for tears, and pale; a lady spoke</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Asking if she were ill or suffering pain?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Neither,' she said; but sorrow made her choke,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I'm only sick because my heart is broke.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>My friend, a man, my oldest friend here, died.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I had to see the man who killed him, tried.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He's to be hanged. Only a boy. My friend.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I thought him just a boy; I didn't know.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And Ern was killed, and now the boy's to end,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all because he thought he loved me so.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My dear,' the lady said; and Anna, 'Oh.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It's very hard to bear the ills men make,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He thought he loved, and it was all mistake.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'My dear,' the lady said; 'you poor, poor woman,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Have you no friends to go to?' 'I'm alone.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I've parents living, but they're both inhuman,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And none can cure what pierces to the bone.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll have to leave and go where I'm not known.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Begin my life again.' Her friend said 'Yes.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Certainly that. But leave me your address:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For I might hear of something; I'll enquire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Perhaps the boy might be reprieved or pardoned.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Couldn't we ask the rector or the squire</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To write and ask the Judge? He can't be hardened.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>What do you do? Is it housework? Have you gardened?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Your hands are very white and soft to touch.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Lately I've not had heart for doing much.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So the talk passes as the train descends</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Into the vale and halts and starts to climb</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To where the apple-bearing country ends</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And pleasant-pastured hills rise sweet with thyme,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Where clinking sheepbells make a broken chime</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And sunwarm gorses rich the air with scent</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And kestrels poise for mice, there Anna went.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There, in the April, in the garden-close,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>One heard her in the morning singing sweet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Calling the birds from the unbudded rose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Offering her lips with grains for them to eat.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The redbreasts come with little wiry feet,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sparrows and tits and all wild feathery things,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Brushing her lifted face with quivering wings.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Jimmy was taken down into a cell,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He did not need a hand, he made no fuss.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The men were kind 'for what the kid done ... well</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The same might come to any one of us.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They brought him bits of cake at tea time: thus</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The love that fashioned all in human ken,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Works in the marvellous hearts of simple men.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And in the nights (they watched him night and day)</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They told him bits of stories through the grating,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Of how the game went at the football play,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And how the rooks outside had started mating.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the time they knew the rope was waiting,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And every evening friend would say to friend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I hope we've not to drag him at the end.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And poor old mother came to see her son,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'The Lord has gave,' she said, 'The Lord has took;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I loved you very dear, my darling one,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now there's none but God where we can look.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We've got God's promise written in His Book,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He will not fail; but oh, it do seem hard.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She hired a room outside the prison yard.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Where did you get the money for the room?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And how are you living, mother; how'll you live?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'It's what I'd saved to put me in the tomb,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I'll want no tomb but what the parish give.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Mother, I lied to you that time, O forgive,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I brought home half my wages, half I spent,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And you went short that week to pay the rent.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I went to see'r, I spent my money on her,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And you who bore me paid the cost in pain.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You went without to buy the clothes upon her:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A hat, a locket, and a silver chain.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O mother dear, if all might be again,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Only from last October, you and me;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O mother dear, how different it would be.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We were so happy in the room together,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Singing at "Binger-Bopper," weren't us, just?</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And going a-hopping in the summer weather,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the hedges covered white with dust,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And blackberries, and that, and traveller's trust.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I thought her wronged, and true, and sweet, and wise,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The devil takes sweet shapes when he tells lies.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mother, my dear, will you forgive your son?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'God knows I do, Jim, I forgive you, dear;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>You didn't know, and couldn't, what you done.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>God pity all poor people suffering here,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And may His mercy shine upon us clear,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And may we have His Holy Word for mark,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To lead us to His Kingdom through the dark.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Amen.' 'Amen,' said Jimmy; then they kissed.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The warders watched, the little larks were singing,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A plough team jangled, turning at the rist;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Beyond, the mild cathedral bells were ringing,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The elm-tree rooks were cawing at the springing:</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O beauty of the time when winter's done,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And all the fields are laughing at the sun!</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I s'pose they've brought the line beyond the Knapp?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Ah, and beyond the Barcle, so they say.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Hearing the rooks begin reminds a chap.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Look queer, the street will, with the lock away;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, I'll never see it.' 'Let us pray.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Don't think of that, but think,' the mother said,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Of men going on long after we are dead.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Red helpless little things will come to birth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And hear the whistles going down the line,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And grow up strong and go about the earth,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And have much happier times than yours and mine;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And some day one of them will get a sign,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And talk to folk, and put an end to sin,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then God's blessed kingdom will begin.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>God dropped a spark down into everyone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And if we find and fan it to a blaze</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It'll spring up and glow like--like the sun,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And light the wandering out of stony ways.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>God warms His hands at man's heart when he prays,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And light of prayer is spreading heart to heart;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It'll light all where now it lights a part.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And God who gave His mercies takes His mercies,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And God who gives beginning gives the end.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I dread my death; but it's the end of curses,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A rest for broken things too broke to mend.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O Captain Christ, our blessed Lord and Friend,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>We are two wandered sinners in the mire,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Burn our dead hearts with love out of Thy fire.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when thy death comes, Master, let us bear it</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As of Thy will, however hard to go;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thy Cross is infinite for us to share it,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Thy help is infinite for us to know.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And when the long trumpets of the Judgment blow</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>May our poor souls be glad and meet agen,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And rest in Thee.' 'Say, "Amen," Jim.' 'Amen.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"></div> + <p class="left pfirst"><span>* * * * *</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>There was a group outside the prison gate,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Waiting to hear them ring the passing bell,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Waiting as empty people always wait</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For the strong toxic of another's hell.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And mother stood there, too, not seeing well,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Praying through tears to let His will be done,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And not to hide His mercy from her son.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Talk in the little group was passing quick.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'It's nothing now to what it was, to watch.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Poor wretched kid, I bet he's feeling sick.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Eh? What d'you say, chaps? Someone got a match?'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'They draw a bolt and drop you down a hatch</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And break your neck, whereas they used to strangle</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In olden times, when you could see them dangle.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Some one said, 'Off hats' when the bell began.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mother was whimpering now upon her knees.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>A broken ringing like a beaten pan</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It sent the sparrows wavering to the trees.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The wall-top grasses whickered in the breeze,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The broken ringing clanged, clattered and clanged</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As though men's bees were swarming, not men hanged.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Now certain Justice with the pitiless knife.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The white sick chaplain snuffling at the nose.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I am the resurrection and the life.'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The bell still clangs, the small procession goes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The prison warders ready ranged in rows.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'Now, Gurney, come, my dear; it's time,' they said.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And ninety seconds later he was dead.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Some of life's sad ones are too strong to die,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Grief doesn't kill them as it kills the weak,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sorrow is not for those who sit and cry</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Lapped in the love of turning t'other cheek,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>But for the noble souls austere and bleak</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Who have had the bitter dose and drained the cup</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And wait for Death face fronted, standing up.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>As the last man upon the sinking ship,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Seeing the brine creep brightly on the deck,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Hearing aloft the slatting topsails rip,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Ripping to rags among the topmast's wreck,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Yet hoists the new red ensign without speck,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That she, so fair, may sink with colours flying,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>So the old widowed mother kept from dying.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She tottered home, back to the little room,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>It was all over for her, but for life;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>She drew the blinds, and trembled in the gloom;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'I sat here thus when I was wedded wife;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Sorrow sometimes, and joy; but always strife.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Struggle to live except just at the last,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>O God, I thank Thee for the mercies past.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Harry, my man, when we were courting; eh...</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The April morning up the Cony-gree.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How grand he looked upon our wedding day.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>"I wish we'd had the bells," he said to me;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And we'd the moon that evening, I and he,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And dew come wet, oh, I remember how,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And we come home to where I'm sitting now.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he lay dead here, and his son was born here;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He never saw his son, his little Jim.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And now I'm all alone here, left to mourn here,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And there are all his clothes, but never him.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He's down under the prison in the dim,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>With quicklime working on him to the bone,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The flesh I made with many and many a groan.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Oh, how his little face come, with bright hair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dear little face. We made this room so snug;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He sit beside me in his little chair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>I give him real tea sometimes in his mug.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He liked the velvet in the patchwork rug.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He used to stroke it, did my pretty son,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>He called it Bunny, little Jimmie done.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And then he ran so, he was strong at running,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Always a strong one, like his dad at that.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>In summertimes I done my sewing sunning,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And he'd be sprawling, playing with the cat.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And neighbours brought their knitting out to chat</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Till five o'clock; he had his tea at five;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>How sweet life was when Jimmy was alive.'</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"></div> + <p class="left pfirst"><span>* * * * *</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"></div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Darkness and midnight, and the midnight chimes.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Another four-and-twenty hours begin,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Darkness again, and many, many times,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The alternating light and darkness spin</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Until the face so thin is still more thin,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Gazing each earthly evening wet or fine</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>For Jimmy coming from work along the line.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Over her head the Chester wires hum,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Under the bridge the rocking engines flash.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>'He's very late this evening, but he'll come</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And bring his little packet full of cash</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>(Always he does) and supper's cracker hash,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>That is his favourite food excepting bacon.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They say my boy was hanged; but they're mistaken.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And sometimes she will walk the cindery mile,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Singing, as she and Jimmy used to do,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Singing 'The parson's dog lep over a stile,'</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Along the path where water lilies grow.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The stars are placid on the evening's blue,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Burning like eyes so calm, so unafraid,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>On all that God has given and man has made.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Burning they watch, and mothlike owls come out,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The redbreast warbles shrilly once and stops;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The homing cowman gives his dog a shout,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The lamps are lighted in the village shops.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Silence; the last bird passes; in the copse</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The hazels cross the moon, a nightjar spins,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dew wets the grass, the nightingale begins.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Singing her crazy song the mother goes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Singing as though her heart were full of peace,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Moths knock the petals from the dropping rose,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Stars make the glimmering pool a golden fleece,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The moon droops west, but still she does not cease,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The little mice peep out to hear her sing,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Until the inn-man's cockerel shakes his wing.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And in the sunny dawns of hot Julys,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The labourers going to meadow see her there.</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Rubbing the sleep out of their heavy eyes,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They lean upon the parapet to stare;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They see her plaiting basil in her hair,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Basil, the dark red wound-wort, cops of clover,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>The blue self-heal and golden Jacks of Dover.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="line-block outermost"> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Dully they watch her, then they turn to go</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>To that high Shropshire upland of late hay;</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Her singing lingers with them as they mow,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>And many times they try it, now grave, now gay,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Till, with full throat, over the hills away,</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>They lift it clear; oh, very clear it towers</span> + </div> + <div class="left line"> + <span>Mixed with the swish of many falling flowers.</span> + </div> + </div> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>'The Widow in the Bye Street' first appeared in</span> <em class="italics">The English Review</em> <span>for February 1912. I thank the editor and proprietors of the</span> <em class="italics">Review</em> <span>for permitting me to reprint it here.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>The persons and events described in the poem are entirely imaginary, and no reference is made or intended to any living person.</span></p> + <p class="left pnext"><span>JOHN MASEFIELD.<br /> + 10*th May* 1912.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span class="small">THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span>* * * * * * * *</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 6em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">JOHN MASEFIELD</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">THE EVERLASTING MERCY</span></p> + <p class="center pnext"><span class="medium">Fifth Impression. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Mr Masefield is to be congratulated on a remarkable achievement--a vital portrait of a man, the drama of a great spiritual conquest, and many passages of high beauty."--</span><em class="italics">Spectator</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"This is probably the most important addition to English religious poetry since Francis Thompson wrote 'The Hound of Heaven.' 'The Everlasting Mercy' is the story of a conversion; not the 'interesting' conversion of some cultured and introspective Agnostic, full of wise saws and modern instances, but the sensational, primitive, catastrophic conversion of a village wastrel, violent alike in body, mind and soul--a drunkard, poacher, bully and libertine.... In it Mr Masefield has accomplished two separate things. He has written a superb poem, swift in its pace and vivid in its phrasing, and produced as well a psychological document of surpassing interest.... He has brought the flaming torch of beauty to light the dry processes of the religious psychologist."--EVELYN UNDERHILL in</span> <em class="italics">The Daily News</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Here, beyond question, in 'The Everlasting Mercy,' is a great poem, as true to the essentials of its ancient art as it is astoundingly modern in its method; a poem, too, which 'every clergyman in the country ought to read as a revelation of the heathenism still left in the land.' ... Its technical force is on a level with its high, inspiring thought. It makes the reader think; it goads him to emotion; and it leaves him alive with a fresh appreciation of the wonderful capacity of human nature to receive new influences and atone for old and apparently ineradicable wrongs."--ARTHUR WAUGH in</span> <em class="italics">The Daily Chronicle</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">JOHN MASEFIELD</span></p> + <p class="center pnext"><span class="large">THE TRAGEDY OF POMPEY THE GREAT</span></p> + <p class="center pnext"><span class="medium">Library Edition, 3s. 6d. net; paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net<br /> + Second Impression</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Fine, nervous, dramatic English. Words which eat into the soul, which have a meaning, which are revelatory of character. A fine virility about the whole play and its conception. An altogether admirable piece of writing which fully justifies Mr Masefield's real literary distinction."--</span><em class="italics">Observer</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"In this Roman tragedy, while we admire its closely knit structure, dramatic effectiveness, and atmosphere of reality ... the warmth and colour of the diction are the most notable things.... He knows the art of phrasing; he has the instinct for and by them."--</span><em class="italics">Athenaeum</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"The talk of Pompey, of Domitius, of Acilius, is not that of great lords, but rather of men like Hawkins and Drake. This is the result of Mr Masefield's imaginative handling. He sees them so, and so they live. They live indeed. Their characters are clear and bold; they say nothing but what reveals them and helps to make the tragedy a rich as well as a moving thing. It is poetry. It is almost music, and on the first few pages there are notes that linger with us to the end, haunting us like the blowing of horns in an old and silent forest."--Mr EDWARD THOMAS in</span> <em class="italics">The Daily Chronicle</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"He has written a great tragedy.... The dialogue is written in strong, simple, and nervous prose, flashing with poetic insight, significance, and suggestion. The characters are intensely alive, the situations are handled by a master hand, and the whole play is pregnant with that high and solemn pathos which is the gift of the born writer of tragedies."--</span><em class="italics">Morning Post</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">SIDGWICK & JACKSON'S MODERN DRAMA</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>"Messrs Sidgwick & Jackson are choosing their plays excellently."--</span><em class="italics">Saturday Review</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"The distinction, which is quite appreciable, of being included in the series of modern plays published by Messrs Sidgwick & Jackson, in which there is nothing bad."--</span><em class="italics">Manchester Guardian</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THREE PLAYS BY GRANVILLE BARKER:</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"The Marrying of Ann Leete," "The Voysey Inheritance," and "Waste." In one Vol., 5s. net; singly, cloth, 2s. net; paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>Third Impression.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>Special Edition, on hand-made paper, limited to 50 numbered copies, signed by the author, extra bound in three volumes, in a case, £1, 1s. net per set.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Mr Granville Barker, by virtue of these three plays alone, unquestionably ranks among the first of our serious literary dramatists."--</span><em class="italics">The Observer</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE MADRAS HOUSE. A Comedy in Four Acts.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>By GRANVILLE BARKER. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. net; paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net. Third Impression.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"You can read 'The Madras House' at your leisure, dip into it here and there, turn a tit-bit over lovingly on the palate ... and the result is, in our experience, a round of pleasure. 'The Madras House' ... is so good in print that everybody should make a mental note to read it."--</span><em class="italics">The Times</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>PRUNELLA; or, Love in a Dutch Garden.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>By LAURENCE HOUSMAN and GRANVILLE BARKER. With a Frontispiece and Music to "Pierrot's Serenade," by JOSEPH MOORAT. Fcap. 4to, 5s. net. Theatre Edition, crown 8vo, wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"A very charming love tale, which works slowly to a climax of great and touching beauty."--</span><em class="italics">Daily News</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>CHAINS. A Play in Four Acts.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>By ELIZABETH BAKER. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net; paper wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>Second Impression.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Nothing could be more free from stage artifices than Miss Baker's play. It is simplicity itself, both in its construction and its dialog.... But it is just the sort of play that one likes to buy and read, for it is real and alive, and a play full of ideas."--</span><em class="italics">The Daily Mail</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE NEW SIN. A Play in Three Acts.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>By BASIL MACDONALD HASTINGS. Cloth, 2s. net; illustrated paper wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"'The New Sin' will rank among the most remarkable plays of recent years."--</span><em class="italics">Morning Post</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Enormously alive, interesting, varied, and stimulating."--</span><em class="italics">Evening Standard</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>RUTHERFORD AND SON. A Play in Three Acts.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>By GITHA SOWERBY. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Miss Sowerby's 'Rutherford and Son' is the best first play since 'Chains' of Miss Elizabeth Baker.... These authors take you immediately by the ear, and limit their discourses strictly to the text.... These plays are really astonishing examples of what can be done in a modern theatre by keeping strictly to the point."--</span><em class="italics">Saturday Review</em><span>.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"I have read few good acting plays which are so consecutive and satisfactory to read."--</span><em class="italics">T. P.'s Weekly</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>LOVE--AND WHAT THEN? A Comedy in Three Acts. By BASIL MACDONALD HASTINGS. Cloth, 2s. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>LORDS AND MASTERS. By JAMES BYRNE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net; paper, 1s. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE TRIAL OF JEANNE D'ARC. By EDWARD GARNETT. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>MARY BROOME. By A. N. MONKHOUSE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. net; paper, 1s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>ANATOL. A Sequence of Dialogues. By ARTHUR SCHNITZLER. Paraphrased for the English Stage by GRANVILLE BARKER. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. net; paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net. Second Impression.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>CONTENTS.--(I.) Ask no Questions and you'll hear no Stories--(II.) A Christmas Present--(III.) An Episode--(IV.) Keepsakes--(V.) A Farewell Supper--(VI.) Dying Pangs--(VII.) The Wedding Morning.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>PAINS AND PENALTIES: A Defence of Queen Caroline. By LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"This play has been censored. It is a play by a poet and artist. And it goes very deeply and hauntingly into the heart. The note that it sounds is the note of Justice, and he would indeed be either a fearful or a fawning reader who could find aught to object to in it."--</span><em class="italics">The Observer</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE CHINESE LANTERN. A Play in Three Acts. By LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Pott 4to, 3s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE WAY THE MONEY GOES. A Play in Three Acts. By LADY BELL. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net; paper wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE COURT THEATRE, 1904-1907. A Criticism and Commentary by DESMOND MACCARTHY. With an Appendix of Reprinted Programmes of the Vedrenne-Barker Management. 2s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>MAX BEERBOHM in</span> <em class="italics">The Saturday Review</em> <span>says: "When Mr MacCarthy was writing weekly criticisms, I always turned in him as to one by whom an austere sobriety of judgment was surprisingly expressed in terms of youthful ardour. In this book he is as ardent as ever, and as just; and his appreciation of Mr Shaw as dramatist seems to me both the most suggestive and the soundest that has been done yet."</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"></div> + <p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">GENERAL LITERATURE</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE: A Survey of Hellenic Culture. By J. C. STOBART, M.A., Late Lecturer in History at Trinity College, Cambridge. Super-royal 8vo, profusely illustrated in Colour, Gravure and Line. Price, 30s. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>"Mr Stobart does a real service when he gives the reading but non-expert public this fine volume, embodying the latest results of research, blending them, too, into as agreeable a narrative as we have met with for a long while."--</span><em class="italics">Guardian</em><span>.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME. By J. C. STOBART, M.A. (Uniform with the above.) 30s. net. Autumn 1912.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>SAILING SHIPS AND THEIR STORY. By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON. With a Colour Frontispiece by CHARLES DIXON, and over 130 Illustrations. Designed cover in cloth gilt, 16s. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>STEAM-SHIPS AND THEIR STORY. By R. A. FLETCHER. With a Coloured Frontispiece and 150 Illustrations. Extra Royal 8vo, over 400 pages, designed cover, cloth gilt, 16s. net.</span></p> + <p class="pnext"><span>Uniform with "Sailing Ships and Their Story."</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>THE LIFE-BOAT AND ITS STORY. By NOEL T. METHLEY, F.R.G.S. With 70 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. net.</span></p> + <div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"></div> + <p class="pfirst"><span>BRITAIN'S RECORD: What She has done for the World. By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON. 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- float: left; - margin-right: 1em } - -.align-right { clear: right; - float: right; - margin-left: 1em } - -.align-center { margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto } - -div.shrinkwrap { display: table; } - -/* SECTIONS */ - -body { margin: 5% 10% 5% 10% } - -/* compact list items containing just one p */ -li p.pfirst { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } - -.first { margin-top: 0 !important; - text-indent: 0 !important } -.last { margin-bottom: 0 !important } - -span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } -img.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; max-width: 25% } -span.dropspan { font-variant: small-caps } - -.no-page-break { page-break-before: avoid !important } - -/* PAGINATION */ - -@media screen { - .coverpage, .frontispiece, .titlepage, .verso, .dedication, .plainpage - { margin: 10% 0; } - - div.clearpage, div.cleardoublepage - { margin: 10% 0; border: none; border-top: 1px solid gray; } - - .vfill { margin: 5% 10% } -} - -@media print { - div.clearpage { page-break-before: always; padding-top: 10% } - div.cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 10% } - - .vfill { margin-top: 20% } - h2.title { margin-top: 20% } -} - -</style> -<title>THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET</title> -<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" /> -<meta name="PG.Title" content="The Widow in the Bye Street" /> -<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" /> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" /> -<meta name="DC.Creator" content="John Masefield" /> -<meta name="DC.Created" content="1912" /> -<meta name="PG.Id" content="41468" /> -<meta name="PG.Released" content="2012-11-23" /> -<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" /> -<meta name="DC.Title" content="The Widow in the Bye Street" /> - -<link href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rel="schema.DCTERMS" /> -<link href="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators" rel="schema.MARCREL" /> -<meta content="The Widow in the Bye Street" name="DCTERMS.title" /> -<meta content="widow.rst" name="DCTERMS.source" /> -<meta content="en" scheme="DCTERMS.RFC4646" name="DCTERMS.language" /> -<meta content="2012-11-24T02:45:19.036578+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" /> -<meta content="Project Gutenberg" name="DCTERMS.publisher" /> -<meta content="Public Domain in the USA." name="DCTERMS.rights" /> -<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41468" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" /> -<meta content="John Masefield" name="DCTERMS.creator" /> -<meta content="2012-11-23" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" /> -<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" /> -<meta content="EpubMaker 0.3.20a4 by Marcello Perathoner <webmaster@gutenberg.org>" name="generator" /> -<style type="text/css"> -.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } -.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } -.lineno { position: absolute; left: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } -.lineno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } -.toc-pageref { float: right } -pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } -</style> -</head> -<body> -<div class="document" id="the-widow-in-the-bye-street"> -<h1 class="center document-title level-1 pfirst title"><span class="x-large">THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET</span></h1> - -<!-- this is the default PG-RST stylesheet --> -<!-- figure and image styles for non-image formats --> -<!-- default transition --> -<!-- default attribution --> -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="align-None container language-en pgheader" id="pg-header" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<p class="noindent pfirst"><span>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the </span><a class="reference internal" href="#project-gutenberg-license">Project Gutenberg License</a><span> -included with this eBook or online at -</span><a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a><span>.</span></p> -<p class="noindent pnext"></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="align-None container" id="pg-machine-header"> -<p class="noindent pfirst"><span>Title: The Widow in the Bye Street -<br /> -<br />Author: John Masefield -<br /> -<br />Release Date: November 23, 2012 [EBook #41468] -<br /> -<br />Language: English -<br /> -<br />Character set encoding: UTF-8</span></p> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-start-line"><span>*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK </span><span>THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET</span><span> ***</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p> -</div> -<div class="align-None container coverpage"> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure margin" style="width: 53%" id="figure-10"> -<span id="cover"></span><img class="align-center block" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-cover.jpg" /> -<div class="caption centerleft figure-caption margin"> -<span class="italics">Cover</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -</div> -<div class="align-None container titlepage"> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="x-large">THE WIDOW IN THE -<br />BYE STREET</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">BY -<br />JOHN MASEFIELD</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">LONDON -<br />SIDGWICK & JACKSON LTD. -<br />3 ADAM STREET, ADELPHI -<br />MCMXII</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -</div> -<div class="align-None container verso"> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics small">Entered at the Library of Congress, Washington, U.S.A.</em><span class="small"> -<br /></span><em class="italics small">All rights reserved</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics small">Second Thousand</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -</div> -<div class="align-None container dedication"> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">TO -<br />MY WIFE</span></p> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">I</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Down Bye Street, in a little Shropshire town,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There lived a widow with her only son:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She had no wealth nor title to renown,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nor any joyous hours, never one.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She rose from ragged mattress before sun</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And stitched all day until her eyes were red,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And had to stitch, because her man was dead.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Sometimes she fell asleep, she stitched so hard,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Letting the linen fall upon the floor;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And hungry cats would steal in from the yard,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And mangy chickens pecked about the door</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Craning their necks so ragged and so sore</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To search the room for bread-crumbs, or for mouse,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But they got nothing in the widow's house.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Mostly she made her bread by hemming shrouds</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For one rich undertaker in the High Street,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Who used to pray that folks might die in crowds</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And that their friends might pay to let them lie sweet;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when one died the widow in the Bye Street</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Stitched night and day to give the worm his dole.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The dead were better dressed than that poor soul.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Her little son was all her life's delight,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For in his little features she could find</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A glimpse of that dead husband out of sight,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where out of sight is never out of mind.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And so she stitched till she was nearly blind,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or till the tallow candle end was done,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To get a living for her little son.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Her love for him being such she would not rest,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It was a want which ate her out and in,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Another hunger in her withered breast</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Pressing her woman's bones against the skin.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To make him plump she starved her body thin.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And he, he ate the food, and never knew,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He laughed and played as little children do.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>When there was little sickness in the place</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She took what God would send, and what God sent</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Never brought any colour to her face</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nor life into her footsteps when she went</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Going, she trembled always withered and bent</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For all went to her son, always the same,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He was first served whatever blessing came.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Sometimes she wandered out to gather sticks,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For it was bitter cold there when it snowed.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And she stole hay out of the farmer's ricks</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For bands to wrap her feet in while she sewed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when her feet were warm and the grate glowed</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She hugged her little son, her heart's desire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With 'Jimmy, ain't it snug beside the fire?'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So years went on till Jimmy was a lad</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And went to work as poor lads have to do,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then the widow's loving heart was glad</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To know that all the pains she had gone through</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the years of putting on the screw,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Down to the sharpest turn a mortal can,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Had borne their fruit, and made her child a man.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He got a job at working on the line</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Tipping the earth down, trolly after truck,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>From daylight till the evening, wet or fine,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With arms all red from wallowing in the muck,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And spitting, as the trolly tipped, for luck,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And singing 'Binger' as he swung the pick</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Because the red blood ran in him so quick.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So there was bacon then, at night, for supper</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In Bye Street there, where he and mother stay;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And boots they had, not leaky in the upper,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And room rent ready on the settling day;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And beer for poor old mother, worn and grey,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And fire in frost; and in the widow's eyes</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It seemed the Lord had made earth paradise.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And there they sat of evenings after dark</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Singing their song of 'Binger,' he and she,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her poor old cackle made the mongrels bark</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And 'You sing Binger, mother,' carols he;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By crimes, but that's a good song, that her be':</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then they slept there in the room they shared,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the time fate had his end prepared.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>One thing alone made life not perfect sweet:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The mother's daily fear of what would come</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When woman and her lovely boy should meet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When the new wife would break up the old home.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Fear of that unborn evil struck her dumb,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when her darling and a woman met,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She shook and prayed, 'Not her, O God; not yet.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Not yet, dear God, my Jimmy go from me.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then she would subtly question with her son.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Not very handsome, I don't think her be?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'God help the man who marries such an one.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her red eyes peered to spy the mischief done.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She took great care to keep the girls away,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all her trouble made him easier prey.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>There was a woman out at Plaister's End,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Light of her body, fifty to the pound,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A copper coin for any man to spend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Lovely to look on when the wits were drowned.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her husband's skeleton was never found,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It lay among the rocks at Glydyr Mor</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where he drank poison finding her a whore.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She was not native there, for she belonged</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Out Milford way, or Swansea; no one knew.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She had the piteous look of someone wronged,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna,' her name, a widow, last of Triw.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She had lived at Plaister's End a year or two;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>At Callow's cottage, renting half an acre;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She was a hen-wife and a perfume-maker.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Secret she was; she lived in reputation;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But secret unseen threads went floating out:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her smile, her voice, her face, were all temptation,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>All subtle flies to trouble man the trout;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Man to entice, entrap, entangle, flout...</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To take and spoil, and then to cast aside:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Gain without giving was the craft she plied.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And she complained, poor lonely widowed soul,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How no one cared, and men were rutters all;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>While true love is an ever-burning goal</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Burning the brighter as the shadows fall.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all love's dogs went hunting at the call,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Married or not she took them by the brain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Sucked at their hearts and tossed them back again.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Like the straw fires lit on Saint John's Eve,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She burned and dwindled in her fickle heart;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For if she wept when Harry took his leave,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her tears were lures to beckon Bob to start.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And if, while loving Bob, a tinker's cart</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Came by, she opened window with a smile</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And gave the tinker hints to wait a while.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She passed for pure; but, years before, in Wales,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Living at Mountain Ash with different men,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her less discretion had inspired tales</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of certain things she did, and how, and when.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Those seven years of youth; we are frantic then.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She had been frantic in her years of youth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The tales were not more evil than the truth.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She had two children as the fruits of trade</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Though she drank bitter herbs to kill the curse,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Both of them sons, and one she overlaid,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The other one the parish had to nurse.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Now she grew plump with money in her purse,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Passing for pure a hundred miles, I guess,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>From where her little son wore workhouse dress.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>There with the Union boys he came and went,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A parish bastard fed on bread and tea,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Wearing a bright tin badge in furthest Gwent,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And no one knowing who his folk could be.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His mother never knew his new name: she,--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She touched the lust of those who served her turn,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And chief among her men was Shepherd Ern.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>A moody, treacherous man of bawdy mind,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Married to that mild girl from Ercall Hill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whose gentle goodness made him more inclined</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To hotter sauces sharper on the bill.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The new lust gives the lecher the new thrill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The new wine scratches as it slips the throat,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The new flag is so bright by the old boat.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern was her man to buy her bread and meat,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Half of his weekly wage was hers to spend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She used to mock 'How is your wife, my sweet?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or wail, 'O, Ernie, how is this to end?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or coo, 'My Ernie is without a friend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She cannot understand my precious life,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Ernie would go home and beat his wife.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So the four souls are ranged, the chess-board set,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The dark, invisible hand of secret Fate</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Brought it to come to being that they met</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>After so many years of lying in wait.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>While we least think it he prepares his Mate.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mate, and the King's pawn played, it never ceases</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Though all the earth is dust of taken pieces.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">II</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>October Fair-time is the time for fun,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For all the street is hurdled into rows</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of pens of heifers blinking at the sun,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Lemster sheep which pant and seem to doze,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And stalls of hardbake and galanty shows,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And cheapjacks smashing crocks, and trumpets blowing,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And the loud organ of the horses going.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>There you can buy blue ribbons for your girl</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or take her in a swing-boat tossing high,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or hold her fast when all the horses whirl</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Round to the steam pipe whanging at the sky,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or stand her cockshies at the cocoa-shy,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or buy her brooches with her name in red,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or Queen Victoria done in gingerbread.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Then there are rifle shots at tossing balls,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'And if you hit you get a good cigar.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And strength-whackers for lads to lamm with mauls,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Cheshire cheeses on a greasy spar.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The country folk flock in from near and far,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Women and men, like blow-flies to the roast,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>All love the fair; but Anna loved it most.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna was all agog to see the fair;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She made Ern promise to be there to meet her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To arm her round to all the pleasures there,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And buy her ribbons for her neck, and treat her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So that no woman at the fair should beat her</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In having pleasure at a man's expense.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She planned to meet him at the chapel fence.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So Ernie went; and Jimmy took his mother,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dressed in her finest with a Monmouth shawl,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And there was such a crowd she thought she'd smother,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And O, she loved a pep'mint above all.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Clash go the crockeries where the cheapjacks bawl,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Baa go the sheep, thud goes the waxwork's drum,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Ernie cursed for Anna hadn't come.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He hunted for her up and down the place,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Raging and snapping like a working brew.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'If you're with someone else I'll smash his face,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when I've done for him I'll go for you.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He bought no fairings as he'd vowed to do</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For his poor little children back at home</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Stuck at the glass 'to see till father come.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Not finding her, he went into an inn,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Busy with ringing till and scratching matches.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where thirsty drovers mingled stout with gin</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And three or four Welsh herds were singing catches.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The swing-doors clattered, letting in in snatches</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The noises of the fair, now low, now loud.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern called for beer and glowered at the crowd.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>While he was glowering at his drinking there</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In came the gipsy Bessie, hawking toys;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A bold-eyed strapping harlot with black hair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One of the tribe which camped at Shepherd's Bois.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She lured him out of inn into the noise</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of the steam-organ where the horses spun,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And so the end of all things was begun.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Newness in lust, always the old in love.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Put up your toys,' he said, 'and come along,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We'll have a turn of swing-boats up above,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And see the murder when they strike the gong.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Don't 'ee,' she giggled. 'My, but ain't you strong.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And where's your proper girl? You don't know me.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I do.' 'You don't.' 'Why, then, I will,' said he.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna was late because the cart which drove her</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Called for her late (the horse had broke a trace),</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She was all dressed and scented for her lover,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her bright blue blouse had imitation lace,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The paint was red as roses on her face,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She hummed a song, because she thought to see</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How envious all the other girls would be.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>When she arrived and found her Ernie gone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her bitter heart thought, 'This is how it is.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Keeping me waiting while the sports are on:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Promising faithful, too, and then to miss.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O, Ernie, won't I give it you for this.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And looking up she saw a couple cling,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern with his arm round Bessie in the swing.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern caught her eye and spat, and cut her dead,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bessie laughed hardly, in the gipsy way.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna, though blind with fury, tossed her head,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Biting her lips until the red was grey,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For bitter moments given, bitter pay,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The time for payment comes, early or late,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>No earthly debtor but accounts to Fate.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She turned aside, telling with bitter oaths</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What Ern should suffer if he turned agen,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And there was Jimmy stripping off his clothes</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Within a little ring of farming men.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, Jimmy, put the old tup into pen.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His mother, watching, thought her heart would curdle,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To see Jim drag the old ram to the hurdle.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Then the ram butted and the game began,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Till Jimmy's muscles cracked and the ram grunted.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The good old wrestling game of Ram and Man,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>At which none knows the hunter from the hunted.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Come and see Jimmy have his belly bunted.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Good tup. Good Jim. Good Jimmy. Sick him, Rover,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>By dang, but Jimmy's got him fairly over.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Then there was clap of hands and Jimmy grinned</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And took five silver shillings from his backers,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And said th'old tup had put him out of wind</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or else he'd take all comers at the Whackers.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And some made rude remarks of rams and knackers,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And mother shook to get her son alone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So's to be sure he hadn't broke a bone.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>None but the lucky man deserves the fair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For lucky men have money and success,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Things that a whore is very glad to share,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or dip, at least, a finger in the mess.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anne, with her raddled cheeks and Sunday dress,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Smiled upon Jimmy, seeing him succeed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>As though to say, 'You are a man, indeed.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All the great things of life are swiftly done,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Creation, death, and love the double gate.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>However much we dawdle in the sun</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We have to hurry at the touch of Fate;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When Life knocks at the door no one can wait,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When Death makes his arrest we have to go.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And so with love, and Jimmy found it so.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Love, the sharp spear, went pricking to the bone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In that one look, desire and bitter aching,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Longing to have that woman all alone</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For her dear beauty's sake all else forsaking;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And sudden agony that set him shaking</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Lest she, whose beauty made his heart's blood cruddle,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Should be another man's to kiss and cuddle.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She was beside him when he left the ring,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her soft dress brushed against him as he passed her;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He thought her penny scent a sweeter thing</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Than precious ointment out of alabaster;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love, the mild servant, makes a drunken master.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She smiled, half sadly, out of thoughtful eyes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the strong young man was easy prize.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She spoke, to take him, seeing him a sheep,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'How beautiful you wrastled with the ram,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It made me all go tremble just to peep,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I am that fond of wrastling, that I am.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Why, here's your mother, too. Good-evening, ma'am.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I was just telling Jim how well he done,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How proud you must be of so fine a son.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Old mother blinked, while Jimmy hardly knew</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whether he knew the woman there or not;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But well he knew, if not, he wanted to,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Joy of her beauty ran in him so hot,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Old trembling mother by him was forgot,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>While Anna searched the mother's face, to know</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whether she took her for a whore or no.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The woman's maxim, 'Win the woman first,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Made her be gracious to the withered thing.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'This being in crowds do give one such a thirst,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I wonder if they've tea going at "The King"?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My throat's that dry my very tongue do cling,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Perhaps you'd take my arm, we'd wander up</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>(If you'd agree) and try and get a cup.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Come, ma'am, a cup of tea would do you good;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There's nothing like a nice hot cup of tea</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>After the crowd and all the time you've stood;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And "The King's" strict, it isn't like "The Key,"</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Now, take my arm, my dear, and lean on me.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy's mother, being nearly blind,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Took Anna's arm, and only thought her kind.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So off they set, with Anna talking to her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How nice the tea would be after the crowd,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And mother thinking half the time she knew her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy's heart's blood ticking quick and loud,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Death beside him knitting at his shroud,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the High Street babbling with the fair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And white October clouds in the blue air.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So tea was made, and down they sat to drink;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O the pale beauty sitting at the board!</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There is more death in women than we think,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There is much danger in the soul adored,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The white hands bring the poison and the cord;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Death has a lodge in lips as red as cherries,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Death has a mansion in the yew-tree berries.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>They sat there talking after tea was done,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy blushed at Anna's sparkling looks,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna flattered mother on her son,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Catching both fishes on her subtle hooks.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With twilight, tea and talk in ingle-nooks,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And music coming up from the dim street,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mother had never known a fair so sweet.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Now cow-bells clink, for milking-time is come,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The drovers stack the hurdles into carts,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>New masters drive the straying cattle home,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Many a young calf from his mother parts,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Hogs straggle back to sty by fits and starts;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The farmers take a last glass at the inns,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now the frolic of the fair begins.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All of the side shows of the fair are lighted,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Flares and bright lights, and brassy cymbals clanging,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Beginning now' and 'Everyone's invited,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Shatter the pauses of the organ's whanging,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The Oldest Show on Earth and the Last Hanging,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The Murder in the Red Barn,' with real blood,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The rifles crack, the Sally shy-sticks thud.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna walked slowly homewards with her prey,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Holding old tottering mother's weight upon her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And pouring in sweet poison on the way</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of 'Such a pleasure, ma'am, and such an honour,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And 'One's so safe with such a son to con her</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Through all the noises and through all the press,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Boys daredn't squirt tormenters on her dress.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>At mother's door they stop to say 'Good-night.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And mother must go in to set the table.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna pretended that she felt a fright</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To go alone through all the merry babel:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My friends are waiting at "The Cain and Abel,"</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Just down the other side of Market Square,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It'd be a mercy if you'd set me there.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So Jimmy came, while mother went inside;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna has got her victim in her clutch.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy, all blushing, glad to be her guide,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thrilled by her scent, and trembling at her touch.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She was all white and dark, and said not much;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She sighed, to hint that pleasure's grave was dug,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And smiled within to see him such a mug.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>They passed the doctor's house among the trees,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She sighed so deep that Jimmy asked her why.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'm too unhappy upon nights like these,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When everyone has happiness but I!'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Then, aren't you happy?' She appeared to cry,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Blinked with her eyes, and turned away her head:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Not much; but some men understand,' she said.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Her voice caught lightly on a broken note,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy half-dared but dared not touch her hand,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Yet all his blood went pumping in his throat</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Beside the beauty he could understand,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Death stopped knitting at the muffling band.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The shroud is done,' he muttered, 'toe to chin.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He snapped the ends, and tucked his needles in.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy, half stammering, choked, 'Has any man----'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He stopped, she shook her head to answer 'No.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Then tell me.' 'No. P'raps some day, if I can.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It hurts to talk of some things ever so.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But you're so different. There, come, we must go</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>None but unhappy women know how good</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It is to meet a soul who's understood.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No. Wait a moment. May I call you Anna?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Perhaps. There must be nearness 'twixt us two.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love in her face hung out his bloody banner,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all love's clanging trumpets shocked and blew.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'When we got up to-day we never knew.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'm sure I didn't think, nor you did.' 'Never.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'And now this friendship's come to us for ever.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, Anna, take my arm, dear.' 'Not to-night,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That must come later when we know our minds,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We must agree to keep this evening white,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We'll eat the fruit to-night and save the rinds.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the folk whose shadows darked the blinds,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the dancers whirling in the fair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Were wretched worms to Jim and Anna there.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'How wonderful life is,' said Anna, lowly.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'But it begins again with you for friend.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In the dim lamplight Jimmy thought her holy,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A lovely fragile thing for him to tend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Grace beyond measure, beauty without end.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna,' he said; 'Good-night. This is the door.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I never knew what people meant before.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Good-night, my friend. Good-bye.' 'But, O my sweet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The night's quite early yet, don't say good-bye,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Come just another short turn down the street,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The whole life's bubbling up for you and I.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Somehow I feel to-morrow we may die.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Come just as far as to the blacksmith's light.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But 'No' said Anna; 'Not to-night. Good-night.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All the tides triumph when the white moon fills.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Down in the race the toppling waters shout,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The breakers shake the bases of the hills,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There is a thundering where the streams go out,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And the wise shipman puts his ship about</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Seeing the gathering of those waters wan,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But what when love makes high tide in a man?</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy walked home with all his mind on fire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One lovely face for ever set in flame.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He shivered as he went, like tautened wire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Surge after surge of shuddering in him came</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then swept out repeating one sweet name,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna, O Anna,' to the evening star.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna was sipping whiskey in the bar.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So back to home and mother Jimmy wandered,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thinking of Plaister's End and Anna's lips.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He ate no supper worth the name, but pondered</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>On Plaister's End hedge, scarlet with ripe hips,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And of the lovely moon there in eclipse,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And how she must be shining in the house</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Behind the hedge of those old dog-rose boughs.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Old mother cleared away. The clock struck eight.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Why, boy, you've left your bacon, lawks a me,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So that's what comes of having tea so late,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Another time you'll go without your tea.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Your father liked his cup, too, didn't he,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Always "another cup" he used to say,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He never went without on any day.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>How nice the lady was and how she talked,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I've never had a nicer fair, not ever.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'She said she'd like to see us if we walked</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To Plaister's End, beyond by Watersever.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nice-looking woman, too, and that, and clever;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We might go round one evening, p'raps, we two;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or I might go, if it's too far for you.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No,' said the mother, 'we're not folk for that;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Meet at the fair and that, and there an end.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Rake out the fire and put out the cat,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>These fairs are sinful, tempting folk to spend.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of course she spoke polite and like a friend;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of course she had to do, and so I let her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But now it's done and past, so I forget her.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I don't see why forget her. Why forget her?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She treat us kind. She weren't like everyone.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I never saw a woman I liked better,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And he's not easy pleased, my father's son.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So I'll go round some night when work is done.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, Jim, my dear, trust mother, there's a dear.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Well, so I do, but sometimes you're so queer.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She blinked at him out of her withered eyes</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Below her lashless eyelids red and bleared.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her months of sacrifice had won the prize,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her Jim had come to what she always feared.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And yet she doubted, so she shook and peered</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And begged her God not let a woman take</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The lovely son whom she had starved to make.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Doubting, she stood the dishes in the rack,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'We'll ask her in some evening, then,' she said,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'How nice her hair looked in the bit of black.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And still she peered from eyes all dim and red</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To note at once if Jimmy drooped his head,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or if his ears blushed when he heard her praised,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy blushed and hung his head and gazed.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'This is the end,' she thought. 'This is the end.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll have to sew again for Mr Jones,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Do hems when I can hardly see to mend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And have the old ache in my marrow-bones.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when his wife's in child-bed, when she groans,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She'll send for me until the pains have ceased,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And give me leavings at the christening feast.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And sit aslant to eye me as I eat,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>"You're only wanted here, ma'am, for to-day,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Just for the christ'ning party, for the treat,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Don't ever think I mean to let you stay;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Two's company, three's none, that's what I say."</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life can be bitter to the very bone</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When one is poor, and woman, and alone.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Jimmy,' she said, still doubting, 'Come, my dear,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Let's have our "Binger," 'fore we go to bed,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then 'The parson's dog,' she cackled clear,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Lep over stile,' she sang, nodding her head.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'His name was little Binger.' 'Jim,' she said,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Binger, now, chorus' ... Jimmy kicked the hob,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The sacrament of song died in a sob.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy went out into the night to think</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Under the moon so steady in the blue.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The woman's beauty ran in him like drink,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The fear that men had loved her burnt him through;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The fear that even then another knew</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>All the deep mystery which women make</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To hide the inner nothing made him shake.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna, I love you, and I always shall.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He looked towards Plaister's End beyond Cot Hills.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A white star glimmered in the long canal,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A droning from the music came in thrills.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love is a flame to burn out human wills,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love is a flame to set the will on fire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love is a flame to cheat men into mire.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>One of the three, we make Love what we choose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But Jimmy did not know, he only thought</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That Anna was too beautiful to lose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That she was all the world and he was naught,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That it was sweet, though bitter, to be caught.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna, I love you.' Underneath the moon,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I shall go mad unless I see you soon.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The fair's lights threw aloft a misty glow.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The organ whangs, the giddy horses reel,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The rifles cease, the folk begin to go,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The hands unclamp the swing-boats from the wheel,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There is a smell of trodden orange peel;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The organ drones and dies, the horses stop,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then the tent collapses from the top.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The fair is over, let the people troop,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The drunkards stagger homewards down the gutters,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The showmen heave in an excited group,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The poles tilt slowly down, the canvas flutters,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The mauls knock out the pins, the last flare sputters.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Lower away.' 'Go easy.' 'Lower, lower.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You've dang near knock my skull in. Loose it slower.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Back in the horses.' 'Are the swing-boats loaded?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'All right to start.' 'Bill, where's the cushion gone?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The red one for the Queen?' 'I think I stowed it.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You think, you think. Lord, where's that cushion, John?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'It's in that bloody box you're sitting on,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What more d'you want?' A concertina plays</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Far off as wandering lovers go their ways.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Up the dim Bye Street to the market-place</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The dead bones of the fair are borne in carts,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Horses and swing-boats at a funeral pace</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>After triumphant hours quickening hearts;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A policeman eyes each waggon as it starts,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The drowsy showmen stumble half asleep,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One of them catcalls, having drunken deep.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So out, over the pass, into the plain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And the dawn finds them filling empty cans</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In some sweet-smelling dusty country lane,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where a brook chatters over rusty pans.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The iron chimneys of the caravans</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Smoke as they go. And now the fair has gone</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To find a new pitch somewhere further on.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>But as the fair moved out two lovers came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ernie and Bessie loitering out together;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bessie with wild eyes, hungry as a flame,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern like a stallion tugging at a tether.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It was calm moonlight, and October weather,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So still, so lovely, as they topped the ridge.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They brushed by Jimmy standing on the bridge.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And, as they passed, they gravely eyed each other,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And the blood burned in each heart beating there;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And out into the Bye Street tottered mother,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Without her shawl, in the October air.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Jimmy,' she cried, 'Jimmy.' And Bessie's hair</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Drooped on the instant over Ernie's face,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And the two lovers clung in an embrace.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'O, Ern.' 'My own, my Bessie.' As they kissed</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy was envious of the thing unknown.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So this was Love, the something he had missed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Woman and man athirst, aflame, alone.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Envy went knocking at his marrow-bone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna's face swam up so dim, so fair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Shining and sweet, with poppies in her hair.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">III</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>After the fair, the gang began again.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Tipping the trollies down the banks of earth.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The truck of stone clanks on the endless chain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A clever pony guides it to its berth.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Let go.' It tips, the navvies shout for mirth</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To see the pony step aside, so wise,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But Jimmy sighed, thinking of Anna's eyes.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And when he stopped his shovelling he looked</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Over the junipers towards Plaister way,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The beauty of his darling had him hooked,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He had no heart for wrastling with the clay.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'O Lord Almighty, I must get away;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O Lord, I must. I must just see my flower,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Why, I could run there in the dinner hour.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The whistle on the pilot engine blew,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The men knocked off, and Jimmy slipped aside</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Over the fence, over the bridge, and through,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then ahead along the water-side,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Under the red-brick rail-bridge, arching wide,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Over the hedge, across the fields, and on;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The foreman asked: 'Where's Jimmy Gurney gone?'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>It is a mile and more to Plaister's End,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But Jimmy ran the short way by the stream,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And there was Anna's cottage at the bend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With blue smoke on the chimney, faint as steam.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'God, she's at home,' and up his heart a gleam</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Leapt like a rocket on November nights,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And shattered slowly in a burst of lights.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna was singing at her kitchen fire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She was surprised, and not well pleased to see</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A sweating navvy, red with heat and mire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Come to her door, whoever he might be.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But when she saw that it was Jimmy, she</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Smiled at his eyes upon her, full of pain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And thought, 'But, still, he mustn't come again.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>People will talk; boys are such crazy things;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But he's a dear boy though he is so green.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So, hurriedly, she slipped her apron strings,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And dabbed her hair, and wiped her fingers clean,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And came to greet him languid as a queen,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Looking as sweet, as fair, as pure, as sad,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>As when she drove her loving husband mad.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Poor boy,' she said, 'Poor boy, how hot you are.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She laid a cool hand to his sweating face.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'How kind to come. Have you been running far?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'm just going out; come up the road a pace.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O dear, these hens; they're all about the place.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So Jimmy shooed the hens at her command,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And got outside the gate as she had planned.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna, my dear, I love you; love you, true;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I had to come--I don't know--I can't rest--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I lay awake all night, thinking of you.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Many must love you, but I love you best.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Many have loved me, yes, dear,' she confessed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She smiled upon him with a tender pride,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'But my love ended when my husband died.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Still, we'll be friends, dear friends, dear, tender friends;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love with its fever's at an end for me.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Be by me gently now the fever ends,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life is a lovelier thing than lovers see,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'd like to trust a man, Jimmy,' said she,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'May I trust you?' 'Oh, Anna dear, my dear----</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Don't come so close,' she said, 'with people near.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Dear, don't be vexed; it's very sweet to find</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One who will understand; but life is life,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And those who do not know are so unkind.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But you'll be by me, Jimmy, in the strife,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I love you though I cannot be your wife;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now be off, before the whistle goes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or else you'll lose your quarter, goodness knows.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'When can I see you, Anna? Tell me, dear.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To-night? To-morrow? Shall I come to-night?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Jimmy, my friend, I cannot have you here;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But when I come to town perhaps we might.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dear, you must go; no kissing; you can write,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And I'll arrange a meeting when I learn</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What friends are doing' (meaning Shepherd Ern).</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Good-bye, my own.' 'Dear Jim, you understand.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If we were only free, dear, free to meet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dear, I would take you by your big, strong hand</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And kiss your dear boy eyes so blue and sweet;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But my dead husband lies under the sheet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dead in my heart, dear, lovely, lonely one,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So, Jim, my dear, my loving days are done.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>But though my heart is buried in his grave</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Something might be--friendship and utter trust--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And you, my dear starved little Jim shall have</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Flowers of friendship from my dead heart's dust;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life would be sweet if men would never lust.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Why do you, Jimmy? Tell me sometime, dear,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Why men are always what we women fear.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Not now. Good-bye; we understand, we two,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And life, O Jim, how glorious life is;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>This sunshine in my heart is due to you;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I was so sad, and life has given this.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I think "I wish I had something of his,"</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Do give me something, will you be so kind?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Something to keep you always in my mind.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I will,' he said. 'Now go, or you'll be late.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He broke from her and ran, and never dreamt</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That as she stood to watch him from the gate</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her heart was half amusement, half contempt,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Comparing Jim the squab, red and unkempt,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In sweaty corduroys, with Shepherd Ern.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She blew him kisses till he passed the turn.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The whistle blew before he reached the line;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The foreman asked him what the hell he meant,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whether a duke had asked him out to dine,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or if he thought the bag would pay his rent?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jim was fined before the foreman went.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But still his spirit glowed from Anna's words,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Cooed in the voice so like a singing bird's.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'O Anna, darling, you shall have a present;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'd give you golden gems if I were rich,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And everything that's sweet and all that's pleasant.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He dropped his pick as though he had a stitch,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And stared tow'rds Plaister's End, past Bushe's Pitch.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O beauty, what I have to give I'll give,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>All mine is yours, beloved, while I live.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All through the afternoon his pick was slacking,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His eyes were always turning west and south,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The foreman was inclined to send him packing,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But put it down to after fair-day drouth;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He looked at Jimmy with an ugly mouth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy slacked, and muttered in a moan,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My love, my beautiful, my very own.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So she had loved. Another man had had her;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She had been his with passion in the night;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>An agony of envy made him sadder,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Yet stabbed a pang of bitter-sweet delight--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O he would keep his image of her white.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The foreman cursed, stepped up, and asked him flat</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What kind of gum-tree he was gaping at.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>It was Jim's custom, when the pay day came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To take his weekly five and twenty shilling</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Back in the little packet to his dame;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Not taking out a farthing for a filling,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nor twopence for a pot, for he was willing</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That she should have it all to save or spend.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But love makes many lovely customs end.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Next pay day came and Jimmy took the money,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But not to mother, for he meant to buy</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A thirteen-shilling locket for his honey,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whatever bellies hungered and went dry,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A silver heart-shape with a ruby eye.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He bought the thing and paid the shopman's price,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And hurried off to make the sacrifice.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Is it for me? You dear, dear generous boy.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How sweet of you. I'll wear it in my dress.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When you're beside me life is such a joy,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You bring the sun to solitariness.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She brushed his jacket with a light caress,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His arms went round her fast, she yielded meek;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He had the happiness to kiss her cheek.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'My dear, my dear.' 'My very dear, my Jim,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How very kind my Jimmy is to me;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I ache to think that some are harsh to him;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Not like my Jimmy, beautiful and free.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My darling boy, how lovely it would be</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If all would trust as we two trust each other.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy's heart grew hard against his mother.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She, poor old soul, was waiting in the gloom</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For Jimmy's pay, that she could do the shopping.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The clock ticked out a solemn tale of doom;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Clogs on the bricks outside went clippa-clopping,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The owls were coming out and dew was dropping.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The bacon burnt, and Jimmy not yet home.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The clock was ticking dooms out like a gnome.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'What can have kept him that he doesn't come?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, they'd tell me if he'd come to hurt.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The unknown, unseen evil struck her numb,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She saw his body bloody in the dirt,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She saw the life blood pumping through the shirt,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She saw him tipsy in the navvies' booth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She saw all forms of evil but the truth.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>At last she hurried up the line to ask</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If Jim were hurt or why he wasn't back.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She found the watchman wearing through his task;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Over the fire basket in his shack;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Behind, the new embankment rose up black.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Gurney?' he said. 'He'd got to see a friend.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Where?' 'I dunno. I think out Plaister's End.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Thanking the man, she tottered down the hill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The long-feared fang had bitten to the bone.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The brook beside her talked as water will</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That it was lonely singing all alone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The night was lonely with the water's tone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And she was lonely to the very marrow.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love puts such bitter poison on Fate's arrow.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She went the long way to them by the mills,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She told herself that she must find her son.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The night was ominous of many ills;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The soughing larch-clump almost made her run,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her boots hurt (she had got a stone in one)</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And bitter beaks were tearing at her liver</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That her boy's heart was turned from her forever.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She kept the lane, past Spindle's, past the Callows',</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her lips still muttering prayers against the worst,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And there were people coming from the sallows,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Along the wild duck patch by Beggar's Hurst.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Being in moonlight mother saw them first,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She saw them moving in the moonlight dim,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A woman with a sweet voice saying 'Jim.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Trembling she grovelled down into the ditch,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They wandered past her pressing side to side.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'O Anna, my belov'd, if I were rich.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It was her son, and Anna's voice replied,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Dear boy, dear beauty boy, my love and pride.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And he: 'It's but a silver thing, but I</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Will earn you better lockets by and bye.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Dear boy, you mustn't.' 'But I mean to do.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'What was that funny sort of noise I heard?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Where?' 'In the hedge; a sort of sob or coo.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Listen. It's gone.' 'It may have been a bird.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim tossed a stone but mother never stirred.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She hugged the hedgerow, choking down her pain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>While the hot tears were blinding in her brain.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The two passed on, the withered woman rose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For many minutes she could only shake,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Staring ahead with trembling little 'Oh's,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The noise a very frightened child might make.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'O God, dear God, don't let the woman take</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My little son, God, not my little Jim.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, I'll have to starve if I lose him.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So back she trembled, nodding with her head,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Laughing and trembling in the bursts of tears,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her ditch-filled boots both squelching in the tread,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her shopping-bonnet sagging to her ears,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her heart too dumb with brokenness for fears.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The nightmare whickering with the laugh of death</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Could not have added terror to her breath.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She reached the house, and: 'I'm all right,' said she,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'll just take off my things; but I'm all right,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'd be all right with just a cup of tea,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If I could only get this grate to light,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The paper's damp and Jimmy's late to-night;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>"Belov'd, if I was rich," was what he said,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O Jim, I wish that God would kill me dead.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>While she was blinking at the unlit grate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Scratching the moistened match-heads off the wood,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She heard Jim coming, so she reached his plate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And forked the over-frizzled scraps of food.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You're late,' she said, 'and this yer isn't good,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whatever makes you come in late like this?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I've been to Plaister's End, that's how it is.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'You've been to Plaister's End?'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Yes.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I've been staying</span></div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>For money for the shopping ever so.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Down here we can't get victuals without paying,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There's no trust down the Bye Street, as you know,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now it's dark and it's too late to go.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You've been to Plaister's End. What took you there?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The lady who was with us at the fair.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'The lady, eh? The lady?'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Yes, the lady.'</span></div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You've been to see her?'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Yes.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'What happened then?'</span></div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I saw her.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Yes. And what filth did she trade ye?</span></div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or d'you expect your locket back agen?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I know the rotten ways of whores with men.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What did it cost ye?'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'What did what cost?'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'It.</span></div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>Your devil's penny for the devil's bit.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I don't know what you mean.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Jimmy, my own.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>Don't lie to mother, boy, for mother knows.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I know you and that lady to the bone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And she's a whore, that thing you call a rose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A whore who takes whatever male thing goes;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A harlot with the devil's skill to tell</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The special key of each man's door to hell.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'She's not. She's nothing of the kind, I tell'ee.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You can't tell women like a woman can;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A beggar tells a lie to fill his belly,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A strumpet tells a lie to win a man,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Women were liars since the world began;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And she's a liar, branded in the eyes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A rotten liar, who inspires lies.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I say she's not.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No, don't'ee Jim, my dearie,</span></div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>You've seen her often in the last few days,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She's given a love as makes you come in weary</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To lie to me before going out to laze.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She's tempted you into the devil's ways,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She's robbing you, full fist, of what you earn,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In God's name, what's she giving in return?'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Her faith, my dear, and that's enough for me.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Her faith. Her faith. O Jimmy, listen, dear;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love doesn't ask for faith, my son, not he;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He asks for life throughout the live-long year,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And life's a test for any plough to ere</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life tests a plough in meadows made of stones,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love takes a toll of spirit, mind and bones.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>I know a woman's portion when she loves,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's hers to give, my darling, not to take;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It isn't lockets, dear, nor pairs of gloves,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It isn't marriage bells nor wedding cake,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's up and cook, although the belly ache;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And bear the child, and up and work again,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And count a sick man's grumble worth the pain.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Will she do this, and fifty times as much?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'No. I don't ask her.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No. I warrant, no.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>She's one to get a young fool in her clutch,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And you're a fool to let her trap you so.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She love you? She? O Jimmy, let her go;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I was so happy, dear, before she came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now I'm going to the grave in shame.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>I bore you, Jimmy, in this very room.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For fifteen years I got you all you had,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You were my little son, made in my womb,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Left all to me, for God had took your dad,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You were a good son, doing all I bade,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Until this strumpet came from God knows where,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now you lie, and I am in despair.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy, I won't say more. I know you think</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That I don't know, being just a withered old,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With chaps all fallen in and eyes that blink,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And hands that tremble so they cannot hold.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A bag of bones to put in churchyard mould,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A red-eyed hag beside your evening star.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy gulped, and thought 'By God, you are.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Well, if I am, my dear, I don't pretend.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I got my eyes red, Jimmy, making you.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My dear, before our love time's at an end</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Think just a minute what it is you do.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If this were right, my dear, you'd tell me true;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You don't, and so it's wrong; you lie; and she</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Lies too, or else you wouldn't lie to me.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Women and men have only got one way</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And that way's marriage; other ways are lust.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If you must marry this one, then you may,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If not you'll drop her.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No.' 'I say you must.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or bring my hairs with sorrow to the dust.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Marry your whore, you'll pay, and there an end.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My God, you shall not have a whore for friend.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>By God, you shall not, not while I'm alive.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Never, so help me God, shall that thing be.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If she's a woman fit to touch she'll wive,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If not she's whore, and she shall deal with me.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And may God's blessed mercy help us see</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And may He make my Jimmy count the cost,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My little boy who's lost, as I am lost.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>People in love cannot be won by kindness,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And opposition makes them feel like martyrs.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When folk are crazy with a drunken blindness,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's best to flog them with each other's garters,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And have the flogging done by Shropshire carters,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Born under Ercall where the while stones lie;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ercall that smells of honey in July.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy said nothing in reply, but thought</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That mother was an old, hard jealous thing.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'll love my girl through good and ill report,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I shall be true whatever grief it bring.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And in his heart he heard the death-bell ring</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For mother's death, and thought what it would be</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To bury her in churchyard and be free.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He saw the narrow grave under the wall,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Home without mother nagging at his dear,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna there with him at evenfall,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bidding him dry his eyes and be of cheer.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The death that took poor mother brings me near,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nearer than we have ever been before,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Near as the dead one came, but dearer, more.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Good-night, my son,' said mother. 'Night,' he said.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He dabbed her brow wi's lips and blew the light,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She lay quite silent crying on the bed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Stirring no limb, but crying through the night.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He slept, convinced that he was Anna's knight.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when he went to work he left behind</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Money for mother crying herself blind.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>After that night he came to Anna's call,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He was a fly in Anna's subtle weavings,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mother had no more share in him at all;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>All that the mother had was Anna's leavings.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There were more lies, more lockets, more deceivings,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Taunts from the proud old woman, lies from him,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna's coo of 'Cruel. Leave her, Jim.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Also the foreman spoke: 'You make me sick,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You come-day-go-day-God-send-plenty-beer.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You put less mizzle on your bit of Dick,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or get your time, I'll have no slackers here,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I've had my eye on you too long, my dear.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy pondered while the man attacked,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'd see her all day long if I were sacked.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And trembling mother thought, 'I'll go to see'r.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She'd give me back my boy if she were told</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Just what he is to me, my pretty dear:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She wouldn't leave me starving in the cold,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Like what I am.' But she was weak and old.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She thought, 'But if I ask her, I'm afraid</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He'd hate me ever after,' so she stayed.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">IV</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Bessie, the gipsy, got with child by Ern,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She joined her tribe again at Shepherd's Meen,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In that old quarry overgrown with fern,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where goats are tethered on the patch of green.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There she reflected on the fool she'd been,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And plaited kipes and waited for the bastard,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And thought that love was glorious while it lasted.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And Ern the moody man went moody home,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To that most gentle girl from Ercall Hill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And bade her take a heed now he had come,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or else, by cripes, he'd put her through the mill.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He didn't want her love, he'd had his fill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thank you, of her, the bread and butter sack.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna heard that Shepherd Ern was back.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Back. And I'll have him back to me,' she muttered,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'This lovesick boy of twenty, green as grass,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Has made me wonder if my brains are buttered,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He, and his lockets, and his love, the ass.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I don't know why he comes. Alas! alas!</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>God knows I want no love; but every sun</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I bolt my doors on some poor loving one.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>It breaks my heart to turn them out of doors,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I hear them crying to me in the rain;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One, with a white face, curses, one implores,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>"Anna, for God's sake, let me in again,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna, belov'd, I cannot bear the pain."</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Like hoovey sheep bleating outside a fold</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>"Anna, belov'd, I'm in the wind and cold."</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>I want no men. I'm weary to the soul</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of men like moths about a candle flame,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of men like flies about a sugar bowl,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Acting alike, and all wanting the same,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My dreamed-of swirl of passion never came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>No man has given me the love I dreamed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But in the best of each one something gleamed.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>If my dear darling were alive, but he...</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He was the same; he didn't understand.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The eyes of that dead child are haunting me,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I only turned the blanket with my hand.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It didn't hurt, he died as I had planned.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A little skinny creature, weak and red;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It looked so peaceful after it was dead.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>I have been all alone, in spite of all.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Never a light to help me place my feet:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I have had many a pain and many a fall.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life's a long headache in a noisy street,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love at the budding looks so very sweet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Men put such bright disguises on their lust,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then it all goes crumble into dust.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy the same, dear, lovely Jimmy, too,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He goes the self-same way the others went:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I shall bring sorrow to those eyes of blue.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He asks the love I'm sure I never meant.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Am I to blame? And all his money spent!</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Men make this shutting doors such cruel pain.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O, Ern, I want you in my life again.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>On Sunday afternoons the lovers walk</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Arm within arm, dressed in their Sunday best,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The man with the blue necktie sucks a stalk,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The woman answers when she is addressed.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>On quiet country stiles they sit to rest,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And after fifty years of wear and tear</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They think how beautiful their courtships were.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy and Anna met to walk together</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The Sunday after Shepherd Ern returned;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna's hat was lovely with a feather</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bought and dyed blue with money Jimmy earned.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They walked towards Callows Farm, and Anna yearned:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Dear boy,' she said, 'This road is dull to-day,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Suppose we turn and walk the other way.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>They turned, she sighed. 'What makes you sigh?' he asked.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Thinking,' she said, 'thinking and grieving, too.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Perhaps some wicked woman will come masked</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Into your life, my dear, to ruin you.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And trusting every woman as you do</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It might mean death to love and be deceived;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You'd take it hard, I thought, and so I grieved.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Dear one, dear Anna.' 'O my lovely boy,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life is all golden to the finger tips.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What will be must be: but to-day's a joy.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Reach me that lovely branch of scarlet hips.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He reached and gave; she put it to her lips.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'And here,' she said, 'we come to Plaister Turns.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then she chose the road to Shepherd Ern's.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>As the deft angler, when the fishes rise,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Flicks on the broadening circle over each</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The delicatest touch of dropping flies,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then pulls more line and whips a longer reach,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Longing to feel the rod bend, the reel screech,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And the quick comrade net the monster out,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So Anna played the fly over her trout.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Twice she passed, thrice, she with the boy beside her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A lovely fly, hooked for a human heart,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She passed his little gate, while Jimmy eyed her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Feeling her beauty tear his soul apart:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then did the great trout rise, the great pike dart,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The gate went clack, a man came up the hill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The lucky strike had hooked him through the gill.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Her breath comes quick, her tired beauty glows,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She would not look behind, she looked ahead.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It seemed to Jimmy she was like a rose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A golden white rose faintly flushed with red.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her eyes danced quicker at the approaching tread,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her finger nails dug sharp into her palm.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She yearned to Jimmy's shoulder, and kept calm.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Evening,' said Shepherd Ern. She turned and eyed him,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Cold and surprised, but interested too,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To see how much he felt the hook inside him,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And how much be surmised, and Jimmy knew,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And if her beauty still could make him do</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The love tricks he had gambolled in the past.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A glow shot through her that her fish was grassed.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Evening,' she said. 'Good evening.' Jimmy felt</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jealous and angry at the shepherd's tone;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He longed to hit the fellow's nose a belt,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He wanted his beloved his alone.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A fellow's girl should be a fellow's own.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern gave the lad a glance and turned to Anna,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim might have been in China by his manner.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Still walking out?' 'As you are.' 'I'll be bound.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Can you talk gipsy yet, or plait a kipe?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'll teach you if I can when I come round.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'And when will that be?' 'When the time is ripe.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy longed to hit the man a swipe</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Under the chin to knock him out of time,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But Anna stayed: she still had twigs to lime.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Come, Anna, come, my dear,' he muttered low.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She frowned, and blinked and spoke again to Ern.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I hear the gipsy has a row to hoe.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The more you hear,' he said, 'the less you'll learn.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'We've just come out,' she said, 'to take a turn;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Suppose you come along: the more the merrier.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'All right,' he said, 'but how about the terrier?'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He cocked an eye at Jimmy. 'Does he bite?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy blushed scarlet. 'He's a dear,' said she.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern walked a step, 'Will you be in to-night?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She shook her head, 'I doubt if that may be.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim, here's a friend who wants to talk to me,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So will you go and come another day?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By crimes, I won't!' said Jimmy, 'I shall stay.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I thought he bit,' said Ern, and Anna smiled,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jimmy saw the smile and watched her face</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>While all the jealous devils made him wild;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A third in love is always out of place;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then her gentle body full of grace</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Leaned to him sweetly as she tossed her head,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Perhaps we two'll be getting on,' she said.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>They walked, but Jimmy turned to watch the third.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'm here, not you,' he said; the shepherd grinned:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna was smiling sweet without a word;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She got the scarlet berry branch unpinned.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'It's cold,' she said, 'this evening, in the wind.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A quick glance showed that Jimmy didn't mind her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She beckoned with the berry branch behind her,</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Then dropped it gently on the broken stones,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Preoccupied, unheeding, walking straight,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Saying 'You jealous boy,' in even tones,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Looking so beautiful, so delicate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Being so very sweet: but at her gate</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She felt her shoe unlaced and looked to know</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If Ern had taken up the sprig or no.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He had, she smiled. 'Anna,' said Jimmy sadly,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'That man's not fit to be a friend of yourn,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He's nobbut just an oaf; I love you madly,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And hearing you speak kind to'm made me burn.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Who is he then?' She answered 'Shepherd Ern,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A pleasant man, an old, old friend of mine.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By cripes, then, Anna, drop him, he's a swine.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Jimmy,' she said, 'you must have faith in me,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Faith's all the battle in a love like ours.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You must believe, my darling, don't you see</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That life to have its sweets must have its sours.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Love isn't always two souls picking flowers.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You must have faith. I give you all I can.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What, can't I say "Good evening" to a man?'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Yes,' he replied, 'But not a man like him.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Why not a man like him?' she said, 'What next?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>By this they'd reached her cottage in the dim,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Among the daisies that the cold had kexed.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Because I say. Now, Anna, don't be vexed.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'm more than vexed,' she said, 'with words like these.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>"You say," indeed. How dare you. Leave me, please.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna, my Anna.' 'Leave me.' She was cold,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Proud and imperious with a lifting lip,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Blazing within, but outwardly controlled;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He had a colt's first instant of the whip.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The long lash curled to cut a second strip.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You to presume to teach. Of course, I know</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You're mother's Sunday scholar, aren't you? Go.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She slammed the door behind her, clutching skirts.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna.' He heard her bedroom latches thud.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He learned at last how bitterly love hurts;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He longed to cut her throat and see her blood,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To stamp her blinking eyeballs into mud.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Anna, by God!' Love's many torments make</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That tune soon change to 'Dear, for Jesus' sake.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He beat the door for her. She never stirred,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But primming bitter lips before her glass;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Admired her hat as though she hadn't heard,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And tried her front hair parted, and in mass.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She heard her lover's hasty footsteps pass.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He's gone,' she thought. She crouched below the pane,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And heard him cursing as he tramped the lane.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Rage ran in Jimmy as he tramped the night;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Rage, strongly mingled with a youth's disgust</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>At finding a beloved woman light,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all her precious beauty dirty dust;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A tinsel-varnish gilded over lust.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nothing but that. He sat him down to rage,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Beside the stream whose waters never age.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Plashing, it slithered down the tiny fall</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To eddy wrinkles in the trembling pool</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With that light voice whose music cannot pall,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Always the note of solace, flute-like, cool.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when hot-headed man has been a fool,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He could not do a wiser thing than go</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To that dim pool where purple teazles grow.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He glowered there until suspicion came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Suspicion, anger's bastard, with mean tongue,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To mutter to him till his heart was flame,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And every fibre of his soul was wrung,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That even then Ern and his Anna clung</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mouth against mouth in passionate embrace.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There was no peace for Jimmy in the place.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Raging he hurried back to learn the truth.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The little swinging wicket glimmered white,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The chimney jagged the skyline like a tooth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bells came in swoons for it was Sunday night.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The garden was all dark, but there was light</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Up in the little room where Anna slept:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The hot blood beat his brain; he crept, he crept.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Clutching himself to hear, clutching to know,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Along the path, rustling with withered leaves,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Up to the apple, too decayed to blow,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Which crooked a palsied finger at the eaves.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And up the lichened trunk his body heaves.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dust blinded him, twigs snapped, the branches shook,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He leaned along a mossy bough to look.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Nothing at first, except a guttering candle</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Shaking amazing shadows on the ceiling,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then Anna's voice upon a bar of 'Randal,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where have you been:' and voice and music reeling,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Trembling, as though she sang with flooding feeling.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The singing stopped midway upon the stair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then Anna showed in white with loosened hair.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Her back was towards him, and she stood awhile,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Like a wild creature tossing back her mane,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then her head went back, he saw a smile</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>On the half face half turned towards the pane;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her eyes closed, and her arms went out again.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim gritted teeth, and called upon his Maker,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She drooped into a man's arms there to take her.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Agony first, sharp, sudden, like a knife,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then down the tree to batter at the door;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Open there. Let me in. I'll have your life.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You Jezebel of hell, you painted whore,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Talk about faith, I'll give you faith galore.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The window creaked, a jug of water came</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Over his head and neck with certain aim.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Clear out,' said Ern; 'I'm here, not you, to-night,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Clear out. We whip young puppies when they yap.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'If you're a man,' said Jim, 'Come down and fight,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll put a stopper on your ugly chap.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Go home,' said Ern; 'Go home and get your pap.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To kennel, pup, and bid your mother bake</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Some soothing syrup in your puppy cake.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>There was a dibble sticking in the bed,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim wrenched it out and swung it swiftly round,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And sent it flying at the shepherd's head:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'll give you puppy-cake. Take that, you hound.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The broken glass went clinking to the ground,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The dibble balanced, checked, and followed flat.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My God,' said Ern, 'I'll give you hell for that.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He flung the door ajar with 'Now, my pup--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Hold up the candle, Anna--now, we'll see.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By crimes, come on,' said Jimmy; 'Put them up.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Come, put them up, you coward, here I be.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Jim, eleven stone, what chance had he</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Against fourteen? but what he could he did;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern swung his right: 'That settles you, my kid.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy went down and out: 'The kid,' said Ern.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'A kid, a sucking puppy; hold the light.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Anna smiled: 'It gave me such a turn,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You look so splendid, Ernie, when you fight.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She looked at Jim with: 'Ern, is he all right?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He's coming to.' She shuddered, 'Pah, the brute.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What things he said'; she stirred him with her foot.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'You go inside,' said Ern, 'and bolt the door,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll deal with him.' She went and Jimmy stood.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, pup,' said Ern, 'don't come round here no more.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'm here, not you, let that be understood.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I tell you frankly, pup, for your own good.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Give me my hat,' said Jim. He passed the gate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And as he tottered off he called, 'You wait.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Thanks, I don't have to,' Shepherd Ern replied;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You'll do whatever waiting's being done.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The door closed gently as he went inside,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The bolts jarred in the channels one by one.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'll give you throwing bats about, my son.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna.' 'My dear?' 'Where are you?' 'Come and find.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The light went out, the windows stared out blind.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Blind as blind eyes forever seeing dark.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And in the dim the lovers went upstairs,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her eyes fast closed, the shepherd's burning stark,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His lips entangled in her straying hairs,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Breath coming short as in a convert's prayers,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her stealthy face all drowsy in the dim</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And full of shudders as she yearned to him.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim crossed the water, cursing in his tears,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By cripes, you wait. My God, he's with her now</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all her hair pulled down over her ears;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Loving the blaggard like a filthy sow,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I saw her kiss him from the apple bough.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They say a whore is always full of wiles,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, how sweet her eyes are when she smiles.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Curse her and curse her. No, my God, she's sweet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's all a helly nightmare. I shall wake.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If it were all a dream I'd kiss her feet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I wish it were a dream for Jesus' sake.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One thing: I bet I made his guzzle ache,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I cop it fair before he sent me down,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll cop him yet some evening on the crown.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, O God, what pretty ways she had,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He's kissing all her skin, so white and soft.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She's kissing back. I think I'm going mad.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Like rutting rattens in the apple loft.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She held that light she carried high aloft</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Full in my eyes for him to hit me by,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I had the light all dazzling in my eye.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She had her dress all clutched up to her shoulder,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all her naked arm was all one gleam.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's going to freeze to-night, it's turning colder,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I wish there was more water in the stream,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'd drownd myself. Perhaps it's all a dream,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And bye and bye I'll wake and find it stuff;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>By crimes, the pain I suffer's real enough.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>About two hundred yards from Gunder Loss</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He stopped to shudder, leaning on the gate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He bit the touchwood underneath the moss;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Rotten, like her,' he muttered in his hate;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He spat it out again with 'But, you wait,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We'll see again, before to-morrow's past,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In this life he laughs longest who laughs last.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All through the night the stream ran to the sea,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The different water always saying the same,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Cat-like, and then a tinkle, never glee,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A lonely little child alone in shame.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>An otter snapped a thorn twig when he came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It drifted down, it passed the Hazel Mill,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It passed the Springs; but Jimmy stayed there still.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Over the pointed hill-top came the light</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Out of the mists on Ercall came the sun,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Red like a huntsman halloing after night,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Blowing a horn to rouse up everyone;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Through many glittering cities he had run,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Splashing the wind vanes on the dewy roofs</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With golden sparks struck by his horses' hoofs.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The watchman rose, rubbing his rusty eyes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He stirred the pot of cocoa for his mate;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The fireman watched his head of power rise.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'What time?' he asked. 'You haven't long to wait.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, is it time?' 'Yes. Let her ripple.' Straight</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The whistle shrieked its message, 'Up to work!</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Up, or be fined a quarter if you shirk.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Hearing the whistle, Jimmy raised his head,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The warning call, and me in Sunday clo'es;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'd better go; I've time. The sun looks red,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I feel so stiff' I'm very nearly froze.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So over brook and through the fields he goes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And up the line among the navvies' smiles,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Young Jimmy Gurney's been upon the tiles.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>The second whistle blew and work began,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy worked too, not knowing what he did,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He tripped and stumbled like a drunken man;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He muddled all, whatever he was bid,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The foreman cursed, 'Good God, what ails the kid?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Hi! Gurney. You. We'll have you crocking soon,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You take a lie down till the afternoon.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I won't,' he answered. 'Why the devil should I?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'm here, I mean to work. I do my piece,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or would do if a man could, but how could I</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then you come nagging round and never cease?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Well, take the job and give me my release,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I want the sack, now give it, there's my pick;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Give me the sack.' The sack was given quick.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">V</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Dully he got his time-check from the keeper.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Curse her,' he said; 'and that's the end of whores'--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He stumbled drunkenly across a sleeper--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Give all you have and get kicked out a-doors.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He cashed his time-check at the station stores.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Bett'ring yourself, I hope, Jim,' said the master;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'That's it,' said Jim; 'and so I will do, blast her.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Beyond the bridge, a sharp turn to the right</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Leads to 'The Bull and Boar,' the carters' rest;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>An inn so hidden it is out of sight</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To anyone not coming from the west.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The high embankment hides it with its crest.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Far up above the Chester trains go by,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The drinkers see them sweep against the sky.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Canal men used it when the barges came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The navvies used it when the line was making;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The pigeons strut and sidle, ruffling, tame,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The chuckling brook in front sets shadows shaking.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Cider and beer for thirsty workers' slaking,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A quiet house; like all that God controls,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It is Fate's instrument on human souls.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Thither Jim turned. 'And now I'll drink,' he said.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'll drink and drink--I never did before--</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll drink and drink until I'm mad or dead,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For that's what comes of meddling with a whore.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He called for liquor at 'The Bull and Boar';</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Moody he drank; the woman asked him why:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Have you had trouble?' 'No,' he said, 'I'm dry.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Dry and burnt up, so give's another drink;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That's better, that's much better, that's the sort.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then he sang, so that he should not think,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His Binger-Bopper song, but cut it short.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His wits were working like a brewer's wort</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Until among them came the vision gleaming</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of Ern with bloody nose and Anna screaming.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'That's what I'll do,' he muttered; 'knock him out,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And kick his face in with a running jump.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll not have dazzled eyes this second bout,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And she can wash the fragments under pump.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It was his ace; but Death had played a trump.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Death the blind beggar chuckled, nodding dumb,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My game; the shroud is ready, Jimmy--come.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Meanwhile, the mother, waiting for her child,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Had tottered out a dozen times to search.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Jimmy,' she said, 'you'll drive your mother wild;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Your father's name's too good a name to smirch,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Come home, my dear, she'll leave you in the lurch;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He was so good, my little Jim, so clever;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He never stop a night away, not ever.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He never slept a night away till now,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Never, not once, in all the time he's been.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's the Lord's will, they say, and we must bow,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But O it's like a knife, it cuts so keen!</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He'll work in's Sunday clothes, it'll be seen,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then they'll laugh, and say "It isn't strange;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He slept with her, and so he couldn't change."</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Perhaps,' she thought, 'I'm wrong; perhaps he's dead;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Killed himself like; folk do in love, they say.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He never tells what passes in his head,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And he's been looking late so old and grey.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A railway train has cut his head away,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Like the poor hare we found at Maylow's shack.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God have pity, bring my darling back!'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All the high stars went sweeping through the sky,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The sun made all the orient clean, clear gold,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'O blessed God,' she prayed, 'do let me die,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or bring my wand'ring lamb back into fold.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The whistle's gone, and all the bacon's cold;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I must know somehow if he's on the line,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He could have bacon sandwich when he dine.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She cut the bread, and started, short of breath,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Up the canal now draining for the rail;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A poor old woman pitted against death,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bringing her pennyworth of love for bail.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Wisdom, beauty, and love may not avail.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She was too late. 'Yes, he was here; oh, yes.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He chucked his job and went.' 'Where?' 'Home, I guess.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Home, but he hasn't been home.' 'Well, he went.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Perhaps you missed him, mother.' 'Or perhaps</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He took the field path yonder through the bent.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He very likely done that, don't he, chaps?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The speaker tested both his trouser straps</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And took his pick. 'He's in the town,' he said.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He'll be all right, after a bit in bed.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She trembled down the high embankment's ridge</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Glad, though too late; not yet too late, indeed.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For forty yards away, beyond the bridge,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy still drank, the devil still sowed seed.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'A bit in bed,' she thought, 'is what I need.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll go to "Bull and Boar" and rest a bit,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They've got a bench outside they'd let me sit.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Even as two soldiers on a fortress wall</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>See the bright fire streak of a coming shell.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Catch breath, and wonder 'Which way will it fall?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To you? to me? or will it all be well?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ev'n so stood life and death, and could not tell</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Whether she'd go to th'inn and find her son,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or take the field and let the doom be done.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No, not the inn,' she thought. 'People would talk.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I couldn't in the open daytime; no.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll just sit here upon the timber balk,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll rest for just a minute and then go.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Resting, her old tired heart began to glow,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Glowed and gave thanks, and thought itself in clover,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He's lost his job, so now she'll throw him over.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Sitting, she saw the rustling thistle-kex,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The picks flash bright above, the trollies tip.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The bridge-stone shining, full of silver specks,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And three swift children running down the dip.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A Stoke Saint Michael carter cracked his whip,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The water in the runway made its din.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She half heard singing coming from the inn.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She turned, and left the inn, and took the path</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And 'Brother Life, you lose,' said Brother Death,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Even as the Lord of all appointed hath</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In this great miracle of blood and breath.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He doeth all things well as the book saith,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He bids the changing stars fulfil their turn,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His hand is on us when we least discern.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Slowly she tottered, stopping with the stitch,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Catching her breath, 'O lawks, a dear, a dear.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How the poor tubings in my heart do twitch,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It hurts like the rheumatics very near.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And every painful footstep drew her clear</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>From that young life she bore with so much pain.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She never had him to herself again.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Out of the inn came Jimmy, red with drink,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Crying: 'I'll show her. Wait a bit. I'll show her.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You wait a bit. I'm not the kid you think.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'm Jimmy Gurney, champion tupper-thrower,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When I get done with her you'll never know her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Nor him you won't. Out of my way, you fowls,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Or else I'll rip the red things off your jowls.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He went across the fields to Plaister's End.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There was a lot of water in the brook,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Sun and white cloud and weather on the mend</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For any man with any eyes to look.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He found old Callow's plough-bat, which he took,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My innings now, my pretty dear,' said he.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You wait a bit. I'll show you. Now you'll see.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Her chimney smoke was blowing blue and faint,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The wise duck shook a tail across the pool,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The blacksmith's shanty smelt of burning paint,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Four newly-tired cartwheels hung to cool.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He had loved the place when under Anna's rule.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Now he clenched teeth and flung aside the gate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There at the door they stood. He grinned. 'Now wait.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern had just brought her in a wired hare,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She stood beside him stroking down the fur.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Oh, Ern, poor thing, look how its eyes do stare,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'It isn't it,' he answered. 'It's a her.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She stroked the breast and plucked away a bur,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She kissed the pads, and leapt back with a shout,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My God, he's got the spudder. Ern. Look out.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Ern clenched his fists. Too late. He felt no pain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Only incredible haste in something swift,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A shock that made the sky black on his brain,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then stillness, while a little cloud went drift.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The weight upon his thigh bones wouldn't lift;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then poultry in a long procession came,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Grey-legged, doing the goose-step, eyes like flame.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Grey-legged old cocks and hens sedate in age,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Marching with jerks as though they moved on springs,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With sidelong hate in round eyes red with rage,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And shouldered muskets clipped by jealous wings,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then an array of horns and stupid things:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Sheep on a hill with harebells, hare for dinner.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Hare.' A slow darkness covered up the sinner.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'But little time is right hand fain of blow.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Only a second changes life to death;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Hate ends before the pulses cease to go,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There is great power in the stop of breath.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There's too great truth in what the dumb thing saith,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Hate never goes so far as that, nor can.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I am what life becomes. D'you hate me, man?'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Hate with his babbling instant, red and damning,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Passed with his instant, having drunken red.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You've killed him.'</span></div> -<div class="inner line-block"> -<div class="left line"><span>'No, I've not, he's only shamming.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="left line"><span>Get up.' 'He can't.' 'O God, he isn't dead.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'O God.' 'Here. Get a basin. Bathe his head.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ernie, for God's sake, what are you playing at?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I only give him one like, with the bat.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Man cannot call the brimming instant back;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Time's an affair of instants spun to days;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>If man must make an instant gold, or black,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Let him, he may, but Time must go his ways.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life may be duller for an instant's blaze.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Life's an affair of instants spun to years,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Instants are only cause of all these tears.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Then Anna screamed aloud. 'Help. Murder. Murder.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By God, it is,' he said. 'Through you, you slut.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Backing, she screamed, until the blacksmith heard her.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Hurry,' they cried, 'the woman's throat's being cut.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jim had his coat off by the water butt.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He might come to,' he said, 'with wine or soup.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I only hit him once, like, with the scoop.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Splash water on him, chaps. I only meant</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To hit him just a clip, like, nothing more.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>There. Look. He isn't dead, his eyelids went.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And he went down. O God, his head's all tore.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I've washed and washed: it's all one gob of gore.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He don't look dead to you? What? Nor to you?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Not kill, the clip I give him, couldn't do.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'God send; he looks damn bad,' the blacksmith said.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Py Cot,' his mate said, 'she wass altogether;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She hass an illness look of peing ted.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Here. Get a glass,' the smith said, 'and a feather.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Wass you at fightings or at playings whether?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Here, get a glass and feather. Quick's the word.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The glass was clear. The feather never stirred.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'By God, I'm sorry, Jim. That settles it.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By God. I've killed him then.' 'The doctor might.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Try, if you like; but that's a nasty hit.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Doctor's gone by. He won't be back till night.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Py Cot, the feather was not looking right.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By Jesus, chaps, I never meant to kill 'un.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Only to bat. I'll go to p'leece and tell 'un.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>O Ern, for God's sake speak, for God's sake speak.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>No answer followed: Ern had done with dust,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The p'leece is best,' the smith said, 'or a beak.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll come along; and so the lady must.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Evans, you bring the lady, will you just?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Tell 'em just how it come, lad. Come your ways;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Joe, you watch the body where it lays.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>They walked to town, Jim on the blacksmith's arm.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy was crying like a child, and saying,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I never meant to do him any harm.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>His teeth went clack, like bones at murmurs playing,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then he trembled hard and broke out praying,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'God help my poor old mother. If he's dead,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I've brought her my last wages home,' he said.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He trod his last free journey down the street;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Treading the middle road, and seeing both sides,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The school, the inns, the butchers selling meat,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The busy market where the town divides.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then past the tanpits full of stinking hides,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And up the lane to death, as weak as pith.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'By God, I hate this, Jimmy,' said the smith.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">VI</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Anna in black, the judge in scarlet robes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A fuss of lawyers' people coming, going,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The windows shut, the gas alight in globes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Evening outside, and pleasant weather blowing.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'They'll hang him?' 'I suppose so; there's no knowing.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'A pretty piece, the woman, ain't she, John?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He killed the fellow just for carrying on.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'She give her piece to counsel pretty clear.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Ah, that she did, and when she stop she smiled.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'She's had a-many men, that pretty dear;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She's drove a-many pretty fellows wild.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'More silly idiots they to be beguiled.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Well, I don't know.' 'Well, I do. See her eyes?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mystery, eh? A woman's mystery's lies.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Perhaps.' 'No p'raps about it, that's the truth.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I know these women; they're a rotten lot.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'You didn't use to think so in your youth.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'No; but I'm wiser now, and not so hot.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Married or buried, </span><em class="italics">I</em><span> say, wives or shot,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>These unmanned, unattached Maries and Susans</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Make life no better than a proper nuisance.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Well, I don't know.' 'Well, if you don't you will.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I look on women as as good as men.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, that's the kind of talk that makes me ill.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>When have they been as good? I ask you when?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Always they have.' 'They haven't. Now and then</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>P'raps one or two was neither hen nor fury.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'One for your mother, that. Here comes the jury.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Guilty. Thumbs down. No hope. The judge passed sentence;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'A frantic passionate youth, unfit for life,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A fitting time afforded for repentance,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Then certain justice with a pitiless knife.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For her his wretched victim's widowed wife,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Pity. For her who bore him, pity. (Cheers.)</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The jury were exempt for seven years.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>All bowed; the Judge passed to the robing-room,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dismissed his clerks, disrobed, and knelt and prayed</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>As was his custom after passing doom,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Doom upon life, upon the thing not made.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'O God, who made us out of dust, and laid</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thee in us bright, to lead us to the truth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, have pity upon this poor youth.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Show him Thy grace, O God, before he die;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Shine in his heart; have mercy upon me,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Who deal the laws men make to travel by</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Under the sun upon the path to Thee;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God Thou knowest I'm as blind as he,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>As blind, as frantic, not so single, worse,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Only Thy pity spared me from the curse.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Thy pity, and Thy mercy, God, did save,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thy bounteous gifts, not any grace of mine,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>From all the pitfalls leading to the grave,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>From all the death-feasts with the husks and swine.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>God, who hast given me all things, now make shine</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Bright in this sinner's heart that he may see.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>God, take this poor boy's spirit back to Thee.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Then trembling with his hands, for he was old,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He went to meet his college friend, the Dean,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The loiterers watched him as his carriage rolled.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'There goes the Judge,' said one, and one was keen:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Hanging that wretched boy, that's where he's been.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A policeman spat, two lawyers talked statistics,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'"Crime passionel" in Agricultural Districts.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'They'd oughtn't hang a boy': but one said 'Stuff.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>This sentimental talk is rotten, rotten.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The law's the law and not half strict enough,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Forgers and murderers are misbegotten,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Let them be hanged and let them be forgotten.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A rotten fool should have a rotten end;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mend them, you say? The rotten never mend.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And one 'Not mend? The rotten not, perhaps.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The rotting would; so would the just infected.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A week in quod has ruined lots of chaps</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Who'd all got good in them till prison wrecked it.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And one, 'Society must be protected.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He's just a kid. She trapped him.' 'No, she didden.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He'll be reprieved.' 'He mid be and he midden.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So the talk went; and Anna took the train,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Too sad for tears, and pale; a lady spoke</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Asking if she were ill or suffering pain?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Neither,' she said; but sorrow made her choke,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I'm only sick because my heart is broke.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>My friend, a man, my oldest friend here, died.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I had to see the man who killed him, tried.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>He's to be hanged. Only a boy. My friend.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I thought him just a boy; I didn't know.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And Ern was killed, and now the boy's to end,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all because he thought he loved me so.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'My dear,' the lady said; and Anna, 'Oh.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It's very hard to bear the ills men make,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He thought he loved, and it was all mistake.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'My dear,' the lady said; 'you poor, poor woman,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Have you no friends to go to?' 'I'm alone.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I've parents living, but they're both inhuman,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And none can cure what pierces to the bone.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll have to leave and go where I'm not known.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Begin my life again.' Her friend said 'Yes.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Certainly that. But leave me your address:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For I might hear of something; I'll enquire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Perhaps the boy might be reprieved or pardoned.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Couldn't we ask the rector or the squire</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To write and ask the Judge? He can't be hardened.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>What do you do? Is it housework? Have you gardened?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Your hands are very white and soft to touch.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Lately I've not had heart for doing much.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>So the talk passes as the train descends</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Into the vale and halts and starts to climb</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To where the apple-bearing country ends</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And pleasant-pastured hills rise sweet with thyme,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Where clinking sheepbells make a broken chime</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And sunwarm gorses rich the air with scent</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And kestrels poise for mice, there Anna went.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>There, in the April, in the garden-close,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>One heard her in the morning singing sweet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Calling the birds from the unbudded rose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Offering her lips with grains for them to eat.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The redbreasts come with little wiry feet,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Sparrows and tits and all wild feathery things,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Brushing her lifted face with quivering wings.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Jimmy was taken down into a cell,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He did not need a hand, he made no fuss.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The men were kind 'for what the kid done ... well</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The same might come to any one of us.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They brought him bits of cake at tea time: thus</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The love that fashioned all in human ken,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Works in the marvellous hearts of simple men.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And in the nights (they watched him night and day)</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They told him bits of stories through the grating,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Of how the game went at the football play,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And how the rooks outside had started mating.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the time they knew the rope was waiting,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And every evening friend would say to friend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I hope we've not to drag him at the end.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And poor old mother came to see her son,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'The Lord has gave,' she said, 'The Lord has took;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I loved you very dear, my darling one,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now there's none but God where we can look.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We've got God's promise written in His Book,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He will not fail; but oh, it do seem hard.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She hired a room outside the prison yard.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Where did you get the money for the room?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And how are you living, mother; how'll you live?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'It's what I'd saved to put me in the tomb,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I'll want no tomb but what the parish give.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Mother, I lied to you that time, O forgive,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I brought home half my wages, half I spent,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And you went short that week to pay the rent.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>I went to see'r, I spent my money on her,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And you who bore me paid the cost in pain.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You went without to buy the clothes upon her:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A hat, a locket, and a silver chain.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O mother dear, if all might be again,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Only from last October, you and me;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O mother dear, how different it would be.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>We were so happy in the room together,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Singing at "Binger-Bopper," weren't us, just?</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And going a-hopping in the summer weather,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the hedges covered white with dust,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And blackberries, and that, and traveller's trust.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I thought her wronged, and true, and sweet, and wise,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The devil takes sweet shapes when he tells lies.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Mother, my dear, will you forgive your son?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'God knows I do, Jim, I forgive you, dear;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>You didn't know, and couldn't, what you done.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>God pity all poor people suffering here,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And may His mercy shine upon us clear,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And may we have His Holy Word for mark,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To lead us to His Kingdom through the dark.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'Amen.' 'Amen,' said Jimmy; then they kissed.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The warders watched, the little larks were singing,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A plough team jangled, turning at the rist;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Beyond, the mild cathedral bells were ringing,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The elm-tree rooks were cawing at the springing:</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O beauty of the time when winter's done,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And all the fields are laughing at the sun!</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>'I s'pose they've brought the line beyond the Knapp?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Ah, and beyond the Barcle, so they say.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Hearing the rooks begin reminds a chap.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Look queer, the street will, with the lock away;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, I'll never see it.' 'Let us pray.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Don't think of that, but think,' the mother said,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Of men going on long after we are dead.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Red helpless little things will come to birth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And hear the whistles going down the line,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And grow up strong and go about the earth,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And have much happier times than yours and mine;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And some day one of them will get a sign,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And talk to folk, and put an end to sin,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And then God's blessed kingdom will begin.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>God dropped a spark down into everyone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And if we find and fan it to a blaze</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It'll spring up and glow like--like the sun,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And light the wandering out of stony ways.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>God warms His hands at man's heart when he prays,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And light of prayer is spreading heart to heart;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It'll light all where now it lights a part.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And God who gave His mercies takes His mercies,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And God who gives beginning gives the end.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I dread my death; but it's the end of curses,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A rest for broken things too broke to mend.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O Captain Christ, our blessed Lord and Friend,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>We are two wandered sinners in the mire,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Burn our dead hearts with love out of Thy fire.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And when thy death comes, Master, let us bear it</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>As of Thy will, however hard to go;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thy Cross is infinite for us to share it,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Thy help is infinite for us to know.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And when the long trumpets of the Judgment blow</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>May our poor souls be glad and meet agen,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And rest in Thee.' 'Say, "Amen," Jim.' 'Amen.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst"><span>* * * * *</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>There was a group outside the prison gate,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Waiting to hear them ring the passing bell,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Waiting as empty people always wait</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For the strong toxic of another's hell.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And mother stood there, too, not seeing well,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Praying through tears to let His will be done,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And not to hide His mercy from her son.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Talk in the little group was passing quick.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'It's nothing now to what it was, to watch.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Poor wretched kid, I bet he's feeling sick.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Eh? What d'you say, chaps? Someone got a match?'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'They draw a bolt and drop you down a hatch</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And break your neck, whereas they used to strangle</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In olden times, when you could see them dangle.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Some one said, 'Off hats' when the bell began.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mother was whimpering now upon her knees.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>A broken ringing like a beaten pan</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It sent the sparrows wavering to the trees.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The wall-top grasses whickered in the breeze,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The broken ringing clanged, clattered and clanged</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>As though men's bees were swarming, not men hanged.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Now certain Justice with the pitiless knife.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The white sick chaplain snuffling at the nose.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I am the resurrection and the life.'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The bell still clangs, the small procession goes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The prison warders ready ranged in rows.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'Now, Gurney, come, my dear; it's time,' they said.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And ninety seconds later he was dead.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Some of life's sad ones are too strong to die,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Grief doesn't kill them as it kills the weak,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Sorrow is not for those who sit and cry</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Lapped in the love of turning t'other cheek,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>But for the noble souls austere and bleak</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Who have had the bitter dose and drained the cup</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And wait for Death face fronted, standing up.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>As the last man upon the sinking ship,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Seeing the brine creep brightly on the deck,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Hearing aloft the slatting topsails rip,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Ripping to rags among the topmast's wreck,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Yet hoists the new red ensign without speck,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That she, so fair, may sink with colours flying,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>So the old widowed mother kept from dying.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>She tottered home, back to the little room,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>It was all over for her, but for life;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>She drew the blinds, and trembled in the gloom;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'I sat here thus when I was wedded wife;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Sorrow sometimes, and joy; but always strife.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Struggle to live except just at the last,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>O God, I thank Thee for the mercies past.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Harry, my man, when we were courting; eh...</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The April morning up the Cony-gree.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How grand he looked upon our wedding day.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>"I wish we'd had the bells," he said to me;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And we'd the moon that evening, I and he,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And dew come wet, oh, I remember how,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And we come home to where I'm sitting now.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And he lay dead here, and his son was born here;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He never saw his son, his little Jim.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And now I'm all alone here, left to mourn here,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And there are all his clothes, but never him.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He's down under the prison in the dim,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>With quicklime working on him to the bone,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The flesh I made with many and many a groan.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Oh, how his little face come, with bright hair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dear little face. We made this room so snug;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He sit beside me in his little chair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>I give him real tea sometimes in his mug.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He liked the velvet in the patchwork rug.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He used to stroke it, did my pretty son,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>He called it Bunny, little Jimmie done.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And then he ran so, he was strong at running,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Always a strong one, like his dad at that.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>In summertimes I done my sewing sunning,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And he'd be sprawling, playing with the cat.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And neighbours brought their knitting out to chat</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Till five o'clock; he had his tea at five;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>How sweet life was when Jimmy was alive.'</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="left pfirst"><span>* * * * *</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Darkness and midnight, and the midnight chimes.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Another four-and-twenty hours begin,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Darkness again, and many, many times,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The alternating light and darkness spin</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Until the face so thin is still more thin,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Gazing each earthly evening wet or fine</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>For Jimmy coming from work along the line.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Over her head the Chester wires hum,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Under the bridge the rocking engines flash.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>'He's very late this evening, but he'll come</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And bring his little packet full of cash</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>(Always he does) and supper's cracker hash,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>That is his favourite food excepting bacon.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They say my boy was hanged; but they're mistaken.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And sometimes she will walk the cindery mile,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Singing, as she and Jimmy used to do,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Singing 'The parson's dog lep over a stile,'</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Along the path where water lilies grow.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The stars are placid on the evening's blue,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Burning like eyes so calm, so unafraid,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>On all that God has given and man has made.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Burning they watch, and mothlike owls come out,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The redbreast warbles shrilly once and stops;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The homing cowman gives his dog a shout,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The lamps are lighted in the village shops.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Silence; the last bird passes; in the copse</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The hazels cross the moon, a nightjar spins,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Dew wets the grass, the nightingale begins.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Singing her crazy song the mother goes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Singing as though her heart were full of peace,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Moths knock the petals from the dropping rose,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Stars make the glimmering pool a golden fleece,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The moon droops west, but still she does not cease,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The little mice peep out to hear her sing,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Until the inn-man's cockerel shakes his wing.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>And in the sunny dawns of hot Julys,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The labourers going to meadow see her there.</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Rubbing the sleep out of their heavy eyes,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They lean upon the parapet to stare;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They see her plaiting basil in her hair,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Basil, the dark red wound-wort, cops of clover,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>The blue self-heal and golden Jacks of Dover.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="line-block outermost"> -<div class="left line"><span>Dully they watch her, then they turn to go</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>To that high Shropshire upland of late hay;</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Her singing lingers with them as they mow,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>And many times they try it, now grave, now gay,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Till, with full throat, over the hills away,</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>They lift it clear; oh, very clear it towers</span></div> -<div class="left line"><span>Mixed with the swish of many falling flowers.</span></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>'The Widow in the Bye Street' first appeared in </span><em class="italics">The -English Review</em><span> for February 1912. I thank the editor and -proprietors of the </span><em class="italics">Review</em><span> for permitting me to reprint it -here.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>The persons and events described in the poem are entirely -imaginary, and no reference is made or intended to any living -person.</span></p> -<p class="left pnext"><span>JOHN MASEFIELD. -<br />10*th May* 1912.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span class="small">THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span>* * * * * * * *</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 6em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">JOHN MASEFIELD</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">THE EVERLASTING MERCY</span></p> -<p class="center pnext"><span class="medium">Fifth Impression. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="medium">SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Mr Masefield is to be congratulated on a remarkable achievement--a -vital portrait of a man, the drama of a great spiritual conquest, and many -passages of high beauty."--</span><em class="italics">Spectator</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"This is probably the most important addition to English religious -poetry since Francis Thompson wrote 'The Hound of Heaven.' 'The -Everlasting Mercy' is the story -of a conversion; not the 'interesting' -conversion of some cultured and introspective Agnostic, full of wise saws -and modern instances, but the sensational, primitive, catastrophic -conversion of a village wastrel, violent alike in body, mind and soul--a -drunkard, poacher, bully and libertine.... In it Mr Masefield has -accomplished two separate things. He has written a superb poem, swift -in its pace and vivid in its phrasing, and produced as well a psychological -document of surpassing interest.... He has brought the flaming torch of -beauty to light the dry processes of the religious psychologist."--EVELYN -UNDERHILL in </span><em class="italics">The Daily News</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Here, beyond question, in 'The Everlasting Mercy,' is a great poem, -as true to the essentials of its ancient art as it is astoundingly modern -in its method; a poem, too, which 'every clergyman in the country ought -to read as a revelation of the heathenism still left in the land.' ... Its -technical force is on a level with its high, inspiring thought. It makes -the reader think; it goads him to emotion; and it leaves him alive with -a fresh appreciation of the wonderful capacity of human nature to receive -new influences and atone for old and apparently ineradicable -wrongs."--ARTHUR WAUGH in </span><em class="italics">The Daily Chronicle</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">JOHN MASEFIELD</span></p> -<p class="center pnext"><span class="large">THE TRAGEDY OF POMPEY THE GREAT</span></p> -<p class="center pnext"><span class="medium">Library Edition, 3s. 6d. net; paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net -<br />Second Impression</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Fine, nervous, dramatic English. Words which eat into -the soul, which have a meaning, which are revelatory of -character. A fine virility about the whole play and its -conception. An altogether admirable piece of writing which fully -justifies Mr Masefield's real literary distinction."--</span><em class="italics">Observer</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"In this Roman tragedy, while we admire its closely knit -structure, dramatic effectiveness, and atmosphere of reality -... the warmth and colour of the diction are the most notable -things.... He knows the art of phrasing; he has the instinct -for and by them."--</span><em class="italics">Athenaeum</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"The talk of Pompey, of Domitius, of Acilius, is not that of -great lords, but rather of men like Hawkins and Drake. This -is the result of Mr Masefield's imaginative handling. He sees -them so, and so they live. They live indeed. Their characters -are clear and bold; they say nothing but what reveals them -and helps to make the tragedy a rich as well as a moving -thing. It is poetry. It is almost music, and on the first few -pages there are notes that linger with us to the end, haunting -us like the blowing of horns in an old and silent -forest."--Mr EDWARD THOMAS in </span><em class="italics">The Daily Chronicle</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"He has written a great tragedy.... The dialogue is -written in strong, simple, and nervous prose, flashing with -poetic insight, significance, and suggestion. The characters -are intensely alive, the situations are handled by a master -hand, and the whole play is pregnant with that high and solemn -pathos which is the gift of the born writer of -tragedies."--</span><em class="italics">Morning Post</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">SIDGWICK & JACKSON'S MODERN DRAMA</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>"Messrs Sidgwick & Jackson are choosing their plays -excellently."--</span><em class="italics">Saturday Review</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"The distinction, which is quite appreciable, of being included in the -series of modern plays published by Messrs Sidgwick & Jackson, in which -there is nothing bad."--</span><em class="italics">Manchester Guardian</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THREE PLAYS BY GRANVILLE BARKER:</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"The Marrying of Ann Leete," "The Voysey -Inheritance," and "Waste." In one Vol., 5s. net; -singly, cloth, 2s. net; paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>Third Impression.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>Special Edition, on hand-made paper, limited to 50 numbered copies, -signed by the author, extra bound in three volumes, in a case, £1, -1s. net per set.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Mr Granville Barker, by virtue of these three plays alone, -unquestionably ranks among the first of our serious literary -dramatists."--</span><em class="italics">The Observer</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE MADRAS HOUSE. A Comedy in Four Acts.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>By GRANVILLE BARKER. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. net; -paper wrappers, 1s. 6d. net. Third Impression.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"You can read 'The Madras House' at your leisure, dip into it here -and there, turn a tit-bit over lovingly on the palate ... and the result is, -in our experience, a round of pleasure. 'The Madras House' ... is so -good in print that everybody should make a mental note to read -it."--</span><em class="italics">The Times</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>PRUNELLA; or, Love in a Dutch Garden.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>By LAURENCE HOUSMAN and GRANVILLE BARKER. With -a Frontispiece and Music to "Pierrot's Serenade," by -JOSEPH MOORAT. Fcap. 4to, 5s. net. Theatre Edition, -crown 8vo, wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"A very charming love tale, which works slowly to a climax of great -and touching beauty."--</span><em class="italics">Daily News</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>CHAINS. A Play in Four Acts.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>By ELIZABETH BAKER. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net; -paper wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>Second Impression.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Nothing could be more free from stage artifices than Miss Baker's -play. It is simplicity itself, both in its construction and its dialog.... -But it is just the sort of play that one likes to buy and read, for it is real -and alive, and a play full of ideas."--</span><em class="italics">The Daily Mail</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE NEW SIN. A Play in Three Acts.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>By BASIL MACDONALD HASTINGS. Cloth, 2s. net; illustrated -paper wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"'The New Sin' will rank among the most remarkable plays of recent -years."--</span><em class="italics">Morning Post</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Enormously alive, interesting, varied, and stimulating."--</span><em class="italics">Evening -Standard</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>RUTHERFORD AND SON. A Play in Three Acts.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>By GITHA SOWERBY. Cloth, 2s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Miss Sowerby's 'Rutherford and Son' is the best first play since -'Chains' of Miss Elizabeth Baker.... These authors take you -immediately by the ear, and limit their -discourses strictly to the text.... These -plays are really astonishing examples of what can be done in a modern -theatre by keeping strictly to the point."--</span><em class="italics">Saturday Review</em><span>.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"I have read few good acting plays which are so consecutive and -satisfactory to read."--</span><em class="italics">T. P.'s Weekly</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>LOVE--AND WHAT THEN? A Comedy in Three -Acts. By BASIL MACDONALD HASTINGS. Cloth, 2s. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>LORDS AND MASTERS. By JAMES BYRNE. Crown -8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net; paper, 1s. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE TRIAL OF JEANNE D'ARC. By EDWARD -GARNETT. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>MARY BROOME. By A. N. MONKHOUSE. Crown 8vo, -cloth, 2s. net; paper, 1s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>ANATOL. A Sequence of Dialogues. By ARTHUR -SCHNITZLER. Paraphrased for the English Stage by -GRANVILLE BARKER. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. net; paper -wrappers, 1s. 6d. net. Second Impression.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>CONTENTS.--(I.) Ask no Questions and you'll hear no Stories--(II.) A -Christmas Present--(III.) An Episode--(IV.) Keepsakes--(V.) A Farewell -Supper--(VI.) Dying Pangs--(VII.) The Wedding Morning.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>PAINS AND PENALTIES: A Defence of Queen -Caroline. By LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Crown 8vo, cloth, -3s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"This play has been censored. It is a play by a poet and artist. And -it goes very deeply and hauntingly into the heart. The note that it sounds -is the note of Justice, and he would indeed be either a fearful or a fawning -reader who could find aught to object to in it."--</span><em class="italics">The Observer</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE CHINESE LANTERN. A Play in Three Acts. -By LAURENCE HOUSMAN. Pott 4to, 3s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE WAY THE MONEY GOES. A Play in Three -Acts. By LADY BELL. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net; -paper wrappers, 1s. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE COURT THEATRE, 1904-1907. A Criticism -and Commentary by DESMOND MACCARTHY. With an -Appendix of Reprinted Programmes of the -Vedrenne-Barker Management. 2s. 6d. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>MAX BEERBOHM in </span><em class="italics">The Saturday Review</em><span> says: "When Mr MacCarthy -was writing weekly criticisms, I always turned in him as to one by whom -an austere sobriety of judgment was surprisingly expressed in terms of -youthful ardour. In this book he is as ardent as ever, and as just; and -his appreciation of Mr Shaw as dramatist seems to me both the most -suggestive and the soundest that has been done yet."</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst"><span class="large">GENERAL LITERATURE</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE: A Survey -of Hellenic Culture. By J. C. STOBART, M.A., Late -Lecturer in History at Trinity College, Cambridge. -Super-royal 8vo, profusely illustrated in Colour, Gravure -and Line. Price, 30s. net.</span></p> -<p class="pnext"><span>"Mr Stobart does a real service when he gives the reading but non-expert -public this fine volume, embodying the latest results of research, -blending them, too, into as agreeable a narrative as we have met with for -a long while."--</span><em class="italics">Guardian</em><span>.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME. By -J. C. STOBART, M.A. (Uniform with the above.) -30s. net. Autumn 1912.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>SAILING SHIPS AND THEIR STORY. By -E. KEBLE CHATTERTON. With a Colour Frontispiece -by CHARLES DIXON, and over 130 Illustrations. -Designed cover in cloth gilt, 16s. net.</span></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst"><span>STEAM-SHIPS AND THEIR STORY. By -R. A. FLETCHER. With a Coloured Frontispiece -and 150 Illustrations. 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