Poems (Elgee, 1907)/The itinerant singing girl
THE ITINERANT SINGING GIRL.
FROM THE DANISH.
ATHERLESS and motherless, no brothers have I,And all my little sisters in the cold grave lie;
Wasted with hunger I saw them falling dead—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Friendless and loverless, I wander to and fro,
Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe,
Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe,
Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Harp clang and merry song by stranger door and board,
None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word;
None care why the colour from my wan cheek has fled—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word;
None care why the colour from my wan cheek has fled—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Smiling and singing still, tho' hunger, want, and woe,
Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go;
Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go;
Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead—
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.