FATHERLESS and motherless, no brothers have I, And all my little sisters in the cold grave lie; Wasted with hunger I saw them falling dead -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. Friendless and loverless, I wander to and fro, Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe, Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. Harp clang and merry song by stranger door and board, None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word; None care why the colour from my wan cheek has fled -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. Smiling and singing still, tho' hunger, want, and woe, Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go; Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A NICE CORRESPONDENT by FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON AMONG THE REDWOODS by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL THE YOUNG BROTHER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET QUEEN MOUNTAIN by BLANCHE BROWNE BRYANT THE BLUEBIRD by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON THE WINTER SCENE by BLISS CARMAN TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 2. BY THE SHORE by EDWARD CARPENTER |