Page:Songs of the Road Doyle.djvu/52



Three women stood by the river's flood

In the gas-lamp's murky light,

A devil watched them on the left,

And an angel on the right.

The clouds of lead flowed overhead;

The leaden stream below;

They marvelled much, that outcast three,

Why Fate should use them so.

Said one: 'I have a mother dear,

Who lieth ill abed,

And by my sin the wage I win

From which she hath her bread.'