##. From child to girl I grew,And thought no thought, and heard no word That was not pure and true.
##. And life was fair and free,A suitor, by my father's leave, Was brought one day to me.
##. He whispered soft and low.My mother told me it was right I was too young to know.
##. And placed it on my brow.It seems like fifty years ago -- And I am twenty now.
##. My day of hope is done --My woman's life of love and joy -- Ere it has scarce begun.
##. Though still so young and strong.No dumb brute from his brother brutes Endures such wanton wrong.
##. It poisons all my peace;An inward torment of reproach That never more will cease.
##. Ere yet the light is gone!What creeping terrors chill my blood As each black night draws on!
##. A prisoner on the rack,And suffer dumbly, as I must, Till the kind day comes back.
##. To hear the church-clock toll --A guiltless prostitute in flesh, A murderess in soul.
##. When he was wed to me,And they must knell a funeral knell Ere I again am free.
##. I vowed the vow "I will;"Were I his mate, and not his slave, I could perform it still.
##. I blindly helped to tie,With one way only for escape, I pray that he may die.
##. Myself so stained and maimed!O to make pure these shuddering limbs That loveless lust has shamed!
##. Where such a blight has been,And all the rivers in the world Can never wash me clean.
##. No breath of scandal flawsThe lustre of my fair repute; For I obey the laws.
##. Marked for the world's disgrace,Scarce dares to lift her sinful eyes To the great lady's face.
##. On me the sunbeams shine;Yet, in the sight of God, her stain May be less black than mine.
##. And did not count the cost;If so, her crown of womanhood Was not ignobly lost.
##. And starves from door to door,To keep her body for her own Since it may love no more.
##. She is more pure than I;The latchet of those broken shoes I am not fit to tie:
##. Sign of her fallen state --Nature, who would but mock at mine, Has made legitimate.
##. Whom church and law disown,Thou hadst thy birthright when the seed Of thy small life was sown.
##. Whom Love must ne'er embrace!Thou knowest I could not bear to look On its reproachful face.
