Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BLIND BOY (1) by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: I HAVE NO MASTER,' SAID THE BLIND BOY
Last Line: THE SADDEST ROGUE ON EARTH!'

'I have no master,' said the Blind Boy,
'My mother, "Dame Venus" they do call;
Cowled in this hood she sent me begging
For whate'er in pity may befall.

'Hard was her visage, me adjuring, --
"Have no fond mercy on the kind!
Here be sharp arrows, bunched in quiver,
Draw close ere striking -- thou art blind."

'So stand I here, my woes entreating,
In this dark alley, lest the Moon
Point with her sparkling my barbed armoury,
Shine on my silver-laced shoon.

'Oh, sir, unkind this Dame to me-ward;
Of the salt billow was her birth. . . .
In your sweet charity draw nearer
The saddest rogue on Earth!'



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