Because I felt that I deserved it too,
And begg’d my infant stranger to forgive
The mother’s shame, which in herself must live.
When known that shame, I, soon expell’d from home,
With a frail sister shared a hovel’s gloom;
There barely fed - (what could I more request?)
My infant slumberer sleeping at my breast,
I from my window saw his blooming bride,
And my seducer smiling at her side;
Hope lived till then; I sank upon the floor,