Poems — The Itinerant Singing Girl

THE ITINERANT SINGING GIRL.

FROM THE DANISH.

Fatherless and motherless, no brothers have I, And all my little sisters in the cold grave lie;

Wasted with hunger I saw them falling dead-- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.

Friendless and loverless, I wander to and fro, Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe, Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread-- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.

Harp clang and merry song by stranger door and board, None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word;

None care why the colour from my wan cheek has fled-- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.

Smiling and singing still, tho' hunger, want, and woe, Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go;

Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead-- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.

IGNEZ DE CASTRO.

FROM THE PORTUGUESE.

"Longe de caro esposo Ignez formosa."