THE WOMAN AND HER CROSS
I met an old woman
Talking to herself
Down a lonely road.
Talking to herself,
Laughing all the time,
Talking to herself
Down a country road.
Child, you cannot know
Why folks talk alone
If the road be long
And travellers none,
A man talks to himself
If showers of sorrow
Fall down like arrows
The lone wayfarer
May talk by himself
So an old woman
On lone country roads,
Laughing all the time,
May babble to herself
To keep the tears away.
Woman, you are sad !
Tis the same with me.
MAIDEN BY THE WAYSIDE
I once saw a maiden dark and comely,
Sitting by the wayside, sad and lonely.
Oh ! Pretty maiden, so dark and comely,
Why sit by the way side, sad and lonely ?
I am neither sad nor lonely, she said
But living, sir among the deaf and dumb,
Relentless watching these shameless dead,
Makes my warm heart grow very cold and numb.