Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/220

 (He had descried a maid whose line Would hand her on much corn and wine. Ind held her far in worth above One who could only pray and love.)

But this Fair read him; whence he failed To do the deed so blithely hailed; He saw his projects wholly marred, And gloom and want oppressed him hard;

Till, living to so mean an end, Whereby he'd lost his every friend, He perished in a pauper sty, His mate the dying pauper nigh.

And moralists, reflecting, said, As "dust to dust" in burial read Was echoed from each coffin-lid, "These men were like in all they did."

1866.