"Cold was the | night-wind, | drifting | fast the | snow fell,
Wide were the | downs, and | shelter | -less and | naked,
When a poor | Wanderer | struggled | on her | journey,
Weary and | way-sore.
Drear were the | downs, more | dreary | her re | -flections;
Cold was the | night-wind, | colder | was her | bosom;
She had no | home, the | world was | all be | -fore her;
She had no | shelter.
Fast o'er the | heath a | chariot | rattlee | by her;
'Pity me!' | feebly | cried the | lonely | wanderer;
'Pity me, | strangers! | lest, with | cold and | hunger,
Here I should | perish.
'Once I had | friends,—though | now by | all for | -saken!
'Once I had | parents, | —they are | now in | heaven!
'I had a | home once, | —I had | once a | husband—
Pity me, | strangers!
'I had a | home once, | —I had | once a | husband—
'I am a | widow, | poor and | broken | -hearted!'
Loud blew the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining;
On drove the | chariot.
Then on the | snow she | laid her | down to | rest her;
She heard a | horseman; | 'Pity | me!' she | groan'd out;
Loud was the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining;
On went the | horseman.
Worn out with | anguish, | toil, and | cold, and | hunger,
Down sunk the | Wanderer; | sleep had | seized her | senses;
There did the | traveller | find her | in the | morning;
God had re | -leased her."
ROBERT SOUTHEY: Poems, Philad., 1843, p. 251.
Among the lyric poems of Dr. Watts, is one, entitled, "THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT; an Ode attempted in English Sapphic." It is perhaps as good an example as we have of the species. It consists of nine stanzas, of which I shall here cite the first three, dividing them into feet as above:—
"When the fierce | North Wind, | with his | airy | forces,
Rears up the | Baltic | to a | foaming | fury;
And the red | lightning | with a | storm of | hail comes
Rushing a | -main down;
How the poor | sailors | stand a | -maz'd and | tremble!
While the hoarse | thunder, | like a bloody | trumpet,
Roars a loud | onset | to the | gaping | waters,
Quick to de | -vour them.