To see it melt like snow away,—

For me it was a woful day.

VII.

"Another still! and still another!
A little lamb, and then its mother!
It was a vein that never stopped,—
Like blood-drops fromf my heart they dropped
Till thirty were not left alive,

They dwindled, dwindled, one by one;
And I may say, that many a time
I wished that all were gone,—
Reckless of what might come at last,
Were but the bitter struggle past.

VIII.

"To wicked deeds I was inclined, And wicked fancies crossed my mind; every man I chanced to see,

And

I thought he knew some ill of me:
No peace, no comfort, could I find,

No ease, within doors or without;
And crazily and wearily

I went my work about;

And oft was moved to flee from home,

And hide my head where wild beasts roam

IX.

"Sir! 'twas a precious flock to me,

As dear as my own children be;

For daily with my growing store
I loved my children more and more.
Alas! it was an evil time;

God cursed me in my sore distress;
I prayed, yet every day I thought
I loved my children less;

And every week, and every day,

My flock it seemed to melt away.

X.

"They dwindled, Sir, sad sight to see!
From ten to five, from five to three,
A lamb, a wether, and a ewe;—
And then at last from three to two;
And, of my fifty, yesterday

I had but only one:

And here it lies upon my arm,
Alas! and I have none;-

To-day I fetched it from the rock;
It is the last of all my flock."

HER EYES ARE WILD.

I.

HER eyes are wild, her head is bare, The sun has burnt her coal-black hair; Her eyebrows have a rusty stain,

And she came far from over the main.

She had a baby on her arm,

Or else she were alone:

And underneath the haystack warm,
And on the greenwood stone,

She talked and sung the woods among,
And it was in the English tongue.

II.

"Sweet babe! they say that I am mad;
But nay, my heart is far too glad;
And I am happy when I sing

Full many a sad and doleful thing:
Then, lovely baby! do not fear!

I

pray thee have no fear of me;
But safe as in a cradle, here,
My lovely baby! thou shalt be:
To thee I know too much I owe;
I cannot work thee any woe.

III.

"A fire was once within my brain;
And in my head a dull, dull pain;
And fiendish faces, one, two, three,
Hung at my breast, and pulled at me.
But then there came a sight of joy;
It came at once to do me good:
I waked, and saw my little boy,
My little boy of flesh and blood

O joy for me that sight to see!

For he was here, and only he.

IV.

"Suck, little babe, O suck again!
It cools my blood; it cools my brain;
Thy lips I feel them, baby! they
Draw from my heart the pain away.
O press me with thy little hand!
It loosens something at my chest;
About that tight and deadly band
I feel thy little fingers prest.
The breeze I see is in the tree:
It comes to cool my babe and me.

V.

"O love me, love me, little boy!
Thou art thy mother's only joy;
And do not dread the waves below,
When o'er the sea-rock's edge we go;
The high crag cannot work me harm,
Nor leaping torrents when they howl;
The babe I carry on my arm,

He saves for me my precious soul;
Then happy lie; for blest am I;

Without me my sweet babe would die

VI.

"Then do not fear, my boy! for thee Bold as a lion will I be:

And I will always be thy guide,

Through hollow snows and rivers wide.
I'll build an Indian bower; I know
The leaves that make the softest bed:
And, if from me thou wilt not go,
But still be true till I am dead,

My pretty thing! then thou shalt sing
As merry as the birds in spring.

VII.

"Thy father cares not for my breast, 'Tis thine, sweet baby, there to rest; 'Tis all thine own!-and if its hue Be changed, that was so fair to view, 'Tis fair enough for thee, my dove! My beauty, little child, is flown, But thou wilt live with me in love; And what if my poor cheek be brown? 'Tis well for me thou canst not see

How pale and wan it else would be.

VIII.

"Dread not their taunts, my little Life;
I am thy father's wedded wife;
And underneath the spreading tree
We two will live in honesty.

If his sweet boy he could forsake,
With me he never would have stayed: