Page:Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hitherto unpublished, 1921.djvu/164

 I AM A HUNCHBACK, YELLOW FACED

(UNCERTAIN DATE)

This little poem may possibly belong to that juvenile period when Stevenson was somewhat under the influence of Heine. But while the German poet might easily have depicted hunchback and harlot as being of one class with the fellow mortal whom they accost, the "friendly hand" that Stevenson holds out as the poem closes is extended without that ironical gesture which Heine would have been inclined to make.

I AM A HUNCHBACK, YELLOW FACED

I am a hunchback, yellow faced,—

A hateful sight to see,—

'T is all that other men can do

To pass and let me be.

I am a woman,—my hair is white—

I was a drunkard's lass;

The gin dances in my head,—

I stumble as I pass.

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