Alfred An Heroic Poem, in Twenty-Four Books. By Joseph Cottle: 4th ed. |
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 | Alfred |  |
‘A hopeful son was mine!
‘He never paid the bad man`s penalty!
‘Nor stopp'd the flying criminal all pale:
‘I lov'd him, he was dutiful and good.
‘This was the cause that made him leave his home.
‘To the far distant church he once had gone,
‘'Twas on a Sunday, and he went to hear
‘The preaching, and exchange some bows and darts
‘For clothes then needed. When, as night came on,
‘He reach'd our home. I never saw a face
‘So changed, an eye so wild, so fix'd a look
‘Of something that within seem'd hard to say.
‘His mother cried; (the aged woman there
‘Sitting so still on yonder stone) she cried,
‘What ails thee, son! speak, for I fear me much
‘Harm hath pursued thee!’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘no harm;
‘But there I trow, is harm enough abroad.
‘Have ye not heard the news?’ ‘No,’ said we both.
‘When thus he answer made.
‘He never paid the bad man`s penalty!
‘Nor stopp'd the flying criminal all pale:
‘I lov'd him, he was dutiful and good.
‘This was the cause that made him leave his home.
‘To the far distant church he once had gone,
‘'Twas on a Sunday, and he went to hear
‘The preaching, and exchange some bows and darts
‘For clothes then needed. When, as night came on,
‘He reach'd our home. I never saw a face
‘So changed, an eye so wild, so fix'd a look
‘Of something that within seem'd hard to say.
‘His mother cried; (the aged woman there
‘Sitting so still on yonder stone) she cried,
‘What ails thee, son! speak, for I fear me much
‘Harm hath pursued thee!’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘no harm;
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‘Have ye not heard the news?’ ‘No,’ said we both.
‘When thus he answer made.
| Alfred | |