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 | The Collected Poems of T. E. Brown |  |
So the misthress tould her all the same
She done to Tommy, only the name
She didn' tell—but a gentleman
That was far above her, and how it began,
And how it ended—no doubt, for the best—
No doubt—but oh! the bitterness!
And “Nelly, I wouldn' be tellin' you this,
If I didn' love you—give me a kiss!”
And Nelly darlin'! and—Nelly sweet!
Then Nelly ran to the misthress' feet,
And laid her head in her lap, and flung
Her arms around her, and clung, and clung,
And sobbed and sobbed a good while—
Aw, bless ye! what was she but a child?
Then the mistress caught her round the neck,
And spread herself upon her lek—
Aw, Nelly herself has tould me—and she lay,
And the gathered, and sheltered, and hid away,
And nussed, and coaxed, and folded in,
She said it was just astonishin'
The complete the world seemed all to go
From her lek—that she didn' know
Nothin' at all, but just the door
Was shut on all sorrows for evermore.
She done to Tommy, only the name
She didn' tell—but a gentleman
That was far above her, and how it began,
And how it ended—no doubt, for the best—
No doubt—but oh! the bitterness!
And “Nelly, I wouldn' be tellin' you this,
If I didn' love you—give me a kiss!”
And Nelly darlin'! and—Nelly sweet!
Then Nelly ran to the misthress' feet,
And laid her head in her lap, and flung
Her arms around her, and clung, and clung,
And sobbed and sobbed a good while—
Aw, bless ye! what was she but a child?
Then the mistress caught her round the neck,
And spread herself upon her lek—
Aw, Nelly herself has tould me—and she lay,
And the gathered, and sheltered, and hid away,
And nussed, and coaxed, and folded in,
She said it was just astonishin'
The complete the world seemed all to go
From her lek—that she didn' know
289
Was shut on all sorrows for evermore.
| The Collected Poems of T. E. Brown | |