Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A WOMAN, by GERARD LABRUNIE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A WOMAN, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: They loved each other, in joy or grief
Last Line: A bumper of wine and still gaily laughed.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nerval, Gerard De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Laughter; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Male-female Relations


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.





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