Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/189

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

175

The sound was not familiar to mine ear.But it was told me after that this manWas one whom lawful violence[1] had forcedFrom his own home and wife and little ones,Who by his labour lived; that he was oneWhose uncorrupted heart could keenly feelA husband's love, a father's anxiousness,That from the wages of his toil he fedThe distant dear ones, and would talk of themAt midnight when he trod the silent deckWith him he valued, talk of them, of joysThat he had known—oh God! and of the hourWhen they should meet again, till his full heartHis manly heart at last would overflowEven like a child's with very tenderness.Peace to his honest spirit! suddenlyIt came, and merciful the ball of death,
  1. ↑ The person alluded to was pressed into the service.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.