Page:Sibylline Leaves (Coleridge).djvu/247

 She smil'd, and smil'd, and pass'd it off
 * E'er from the door she stept—

But all agree it would have been
 * Much better had she wept.

And if her heart was not at ease,
 * This was her constant cry—

"It was a wicked woman's curse—
 * God's good, and what care I?"

There was a hurry in her looks,
 * Her struggles she redoubled:

"It was a wicked woman's curse,
 * And why should I be troubled?"

These tears will come—I dandled her
 * When 'twas the merest fairy—

Good creature! and she hid it all:
 * She told it not to Mary.

But Mary heard the tale: her arms
 * Round Ellen's neck she threw;

"O Ellen, Ellen, she curs'd me,
 * And now she hath curs'd you!"

Rh