They loved each other, in joy or grief: He was a sharper, and she, a thief. At each new tale of her lover's craft She fell on her pillow and gaily laughed. All day, they revelled with mirth and jest; All night, she slumbered upon his breast. They dragged him to jail—like a creature daft She stood at the window and gaily laughed. He wrote her a letter: "Oh! come to me: I sigh for thy presence; I pine for thee." She read each word of the ill-scrawled draft— Then shook her head and still gaily laughed. At six, he was hanged in the sight of Heaven— His body was flung in a ditch, at seven— And at eight in the morning, his mistress quaffed A bumper of wine and still gaily laughed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...REAR-PORCHES OF AN APARTMENT-BUILDING by MAXWELL BODENHEIM TO A CAPTIOUS CRITIC by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR FLORAL DECORATIONS FOR BANANAS by WALLACE STEVENS AN EARNEST SUIT [TO HIS UNKIND MISTRESS NOT TO FORESAKE HIM] by THOMAS WYATT THE SUNFISH LAKE ROAD by BEATRICE MARY BILLING HOUSECLEANING DAY IN VERMONT by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY |