Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/95

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I ask'd her why she loiter'd there  When the wind it was so chill; She turn'd her head and bade the child  That scream'd behind be still.
She told us that her husband served  A soldier, far away, And therefore to her parish she  Was begging back her way.
We met a girl; her dress was loose  And sunken was her eye, Who with the wanton's hollow voice  Address'd the passers by;
I ask'd her what there was in guilt That could her heart allure To shame, disease, and late remorse?  She answer'd, she was poor.
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