Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE STREET-SINGER; TO WALTER PATER, by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE STREET-SINGER; TO WALTER PATER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: She sings a pious ballad wearily
Last Line: A sweet voice mocks her with its carollings.
Subject(s): Singing & Singers


She sings a pious ballad wearily;
Her shivering body creeps on painful feet
Along the muddy runlets of the street;
The damp is in her throat: she coughs to free
The cracked and husky notes that tear her chest;
From side to side she looks with eyes that grope,
Feverishly hungering in a hopeless hope,
For pence that will not come; and pence mean rest,
The rest that pain may steal at night from sleep,
The rest that hunger gives when satisfied;
Her fingers twitch to handle them; she sings
Shriller; her eyes, too hot with tears to weep,
Fasten upon a window, where, inside,
A sweet voice mocks her with its carollings.





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