BEAUTY'S dull husband, Neighbourhood, they say, When first he knew she had had a child by Joy, Her earlier love, killed in some border fray, Was tender more than wont, and to the boy Gave food and houseroom; then, for better aid When he should come to face the world alone, Taught him his catechism, and a trade: The while his mother, making plaintive moan, Sat in friends' parlours, to condoling ears Sighing how grievous fate had left her days Thus widowed of true marriage; then, with tears, How Love her child was learning coarser ways. And for all this poor Neighbourhood is defamed, Made naught of by her kindred, mocked and shamed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE RUINS OF A COUNTRY INN by PHILIP FRENEAU VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1877 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ADAM'S CURSE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS WHERE'S AGNES? by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE LAW OF LIBERTY by ALICE CARY THE HEIFER by ANDRE MARIE CHENIER |