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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PAUPER ORPHANS, by MARY HOWITT Poet's Biography First Line: They never knew what 'twas to play Last Line: Heaven be a friend to them! Alternate Author Name(s): Botham, Mary | |||
They never knew what 't was to play, Without control, the long long day, In wood and field at will; They knew no tree, no bird, no bud, They got no strawberries from the wood, No wild thyme from the hill. They play'd not on a mother's floor; They toil'd amidst the hum and roar Of bobbins and of wheels; -- The air they drew was not the mild Bounty of Nature, but defiled, -- And scanty were their meals. Their lives can know no passing joy, Dwindled and dwarfed are girl and boy, And even in childhood old; With hollow eye and anxious air, As if a heavy grasping care Their spirits did infold. Their limbs are swollen, their bodies bent, And worse, no noble sentiment Their darken'd minds pervade; Feeble and blemish'd by disease, Nothing their marble hearts can please, But doings that degrade. Oh, hapless heirs of want and woe! What hope of comfort can they know? Them man and law condemn; They have no guide to lead them right, Darkness they have not known from light, -- HEAVEN be a friend to them! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SPIDER AND THE FLY by MARY HOWITT THE USE OF FLOWERS by MARY HOWITT A SWINGING SONG by MARY HOWITT BIRDS IN SUMMER by MARY HOWITT ENGLISH CHURCHES by MARY HOWITT MOUNTAIN CHILDREN by MARY HOWITT SONNET ON TYRE: 1 by MARY HOWITT |
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