Of woes I could not understand;
Yet felt their force, as, day by day,
I watch'd her fade from life away.
"And he, the cause of all this woe,
Her mate--the father of her child,
In dread I saw him come and go,
With many an awful oath reviled;
And from harsh word, and harsher blow,
(In answer to her pleadings mild,)
I shrank in terror, till I caught