 | Vulgar Verses |  |
The Gaffer signall'd; and by swift degrees
Again the cage shot up into the air
And then sank down. Her head between her knees,
Juliet sat quiet, smiling still at me,
Behind the bars; and stretching out her hand
She waved a frank farewell, right gracefully;
Then, as the huge freight dipp'd below the land,
“Monsieur,” she cried, “adieu and au revoir!”
And sank with all her comrades, out of sight.
I, leaning forward from that coaly shore,
Look'd after her; look'd down the depth of night,
And saw not anything, but heard the drip
Of falling waters, and the clang of chains
Above the cage; the close and grinding grip
Wherewith that great machine plunges and strains
In its descent, against the iron gear
That keeps it steady in a narrow room:
Tremendous noises, but to Juliet's ear
Familiar and benign. In such vast gloom,
Amid such sounds, she willingly is borne
Down, down, to seek a hardy livelihood
In the swart seams of coal.
Again the cage shot up into the air
And then sank down. Her head between her knees,
Juliet sat quiet, smiling still at me,
Behind the bars; and stretching out her hand
She waved a frank farewell, right gracefully;
Then, as the huge freight dipp'd below the land,
“Monsieur,” she cried, “adieu and au revoir!”
And sank with all her comrades, out of sight.
I, leaning forward from that coaly shore,
Look'd after her; look'd down the depth of night,
And saw not anything, but heard the drip
Of falling waters, and the clang of chains
Above the cage; the close and grinding grip
Wherewith that great machine plunges and strains
In its descent, against the iron gear
That keeps it steady in a narrow room:
Tremendous noises, but to Juliet's ear
Familiar and benign. In such vast gloom,
Amid such sounds, she willingly is borne
Down, down, to seek a hardy livelihood
In the swart seams of coal.
To-morrow morn,
What time the sun above yon Arden wood
Arises, Cary Juliet too shall rise
Out of the depths that over her did close;
But ah, not brilliant like the eastern skies,
Not fresh and fair, as Emily uprose,
And went to Dian's temple, in the tale:
After a night of toil shall she come back—
Too weary and too sleepy now, to hail
The golden sun; and with a face as black
As is the pit she comes from, on the land
She shall step forth, and slowly slouch away
To that poor home where by her mother's hand
Refresh'd and fed, she sleeps through half the day,
And to her work comes out again at eve.
What time the sun above yon Arden wood
Arises, Cary Juliet too shall rise
146
But ah, not brilliant like the eastern skies,
Not fresh and fair, as Emily uprose,
And went to Dian's temple, in the tale:
After a night of toil shall she come back—
Too weary and too sleepy now, to hail
The golden sun; and with a face as black
As is the pit she comes from, on the land
She shall step forth, and slowly slouch away
To that poor home where by her mother's hand
Refresh'd and fed, she sleeps through half the day,
And to her work comes out again at eve.
| Vulgar Verses | |