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AT THE RAILWAY STATION, UPWAY by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

First Line: THERE IS NOT MUCH THAT I CAN DO ...'
Last Line: THE CONVICT, AND BOY WITH THE VIOLIN.

"THERE is not much that I can do,
For I've no money that's quite my own!"
Spoke up the pitying child --
A little boy with a violin
At the station before the train came in, --
"But I can play my fiddle to you,
And a nice one 'tis, and good in tone!"

The man in the handcuffs smiled;
The constable looked, and he smiled, too,
As the fiddle began to twang;
And the man in the handcuffs suddenly sang
With grimful glee:
"This life so free
Is the thing for me!"
And the constable smiled, and said no word,
As if unconscious of what he heard;
And so they went on till the train came in --
The convict, and boy with the violin.



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