WEST LONDON°
Reading edition
WEST LONDON°
°1Crouch'd on the pavement, close by Belgrave Square,° A tramp I saw, ill, moody, and tongue-tied. A babe was in her arms, and at her side A girl; their clothes were rags, their feet were bare. 5Some labouring men, whose work lay somewhere there, Pass'd opposite; she touch'd her girl, who hied Across and begg'd, and came back satisfied. The rich she had let pass with frozen stare. Thought I: "Above her state this spirit towers; 10She will not ask of aliens but of friends, Of sharers in a common human fate. "She turns from that cold succour, which attends The unknown little from the unknowing great, And points us to a better time than ours."
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