Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/84

 For the heat of flight was over; of my home I thought, and of my wife and little ones In bitterness of heart. The gallant man, Whose by the chance of war I had become, Had pity, and he loos'd my hands and said, Frenchman! I would have killed thee in the battle But my arm shrinks at murder—get thee hence." "It was the will of heaven that I should live Childless and old to think upon the past And wish that I had perish'd!" The old man Wept as he spake. "Ye may perhaps have heard Of the hard siege so long by Rouen endur'd. I dwelt there strangers, I had then a wife And I had children tenderly beloved, Who I did hope should cheer me in old age And close mine eyes. The tale of Misery May-hap were tedious, or I could relate Much of that dreadful siege." The Maid replied Anxious