Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 2.djvu/49

41 And they had fix'd the wedding-day,

The morning that must wed them both;

But Stephen to another Maid

Had sworn another oath;

And with this other Maid to church

Unthinking Stephen went—

Poor Martha! on that woeful day

A pang of pitiless dismay

Into her soul was sent;

A Fire was kindled in her breast,

Which might not burn itself to rest.

They say, full six months after this,

While yet the summer leaves were green,

She to the mountain-top would go,

And there was often seen.

'Tis said, a child was in her womb,

As now to any eye was plain;

She was with child, and she was mad;

Yet often she was sober sad

From her exceeding pain.

Oh me! ten thousand times I'd rather

That he had died, that cruel father!