Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/90

 Sharing with the most wretched, he would bid us Bear with our miseries cheerly. "Thus distress'd Lest all should perish thus, our chieftains doom'd The helpless ones—dreadful alternative, To seek their fates. I never shall forget The horrors of that hour! Oh God forbid That my worst foe should ever feel such pangs. Then as our widow wives clung round our necks, And the deep sob of anguish interrupted The prayer of parting—even the pious priest As he implor'd his God to strengthen us, And told us we should meet again in Heaven, He groan'd and curs'd in bitterness of heart That merciless man—The wretched crowd pass'd on: My wife—my children—thro' the gates they pass'd— Then the gates clos'd Would I were in my grave That I might lose remembrance. "What is man "That