Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/245

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Had kept her sleepless: and when prudent love, In something better than a servant's stateHad placed her well at last, it was a pangLike parting life to part with her dear girl.
One summer, Charles, when at the holydays Return'd from school, I visited againMy old accustomed walks, and found in them A joy almost like meeting an old friend,I saw the cottage empty, and the weeds Already crowding the neglected flowers. Joanna by a villain's wiles seducedHad played the wanton, and that blow had reach'd Her mother's heart. She did not suffer long, Her age was feeble, and the heavy blow Brought her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.
I pass this ruin'd dwelling oftentimesAnd think of other days. It wakes in meA transient sadness, but the feelings Charles
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