| |
| A SIMPLE child, | |
| That lightly draws its breath, | |
| And feels its life in every limb, | |
| What should it know of death? | |
| |
| I met a little cottage girl: | 5 |
| She was eight years old, she said; | |
| Her hair was thick with many a curl | |
| That clustered round her head. | |
| |
| She had a rustic, woodland air, | |
| And she was wildly clad; | 10 |
| Her eyes were fair, and very fair;— | |
| Her beauty made me glad. | |
| |
| “Sisters and brothers, little maid, | |
| How many may you be?” | |
| “How many? Seven in all,” she said, | 15 |
| And wondering looked at me. | |
| |
| “And where are they? I pray you tell.” | |
| She answered, “Seven are we; | |
| And two of us at Conway dwell, | |
| And two are gone to sea; | 20 |
| |
| “Two of us in the churchyard lie, | |
| My sister and my brother; | |
| And, in the churchyard cottage, I | |
| Dwell near them with my mother.” | |
| |
| “You say that two at Conway dwell, | 25 |
| And two are gone to sea, | |
| Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell, | |
| Sweet maid, how this may be.” | |
| |
| Then did the little maid reply, | |
| “Seven boys and girls are we; | 30 |
| Two of us in the churchyard lie | |
| Beneath the churchyard tree.” | |
| |
| “You run about, my little maid; | |
| Your limbs they are alive; | |
| If two are in the churchyard laid, | 35 |
| Then ye are only five.” | |
| |
| “Their graves are green, they may be seen,” | |
| The little maid replied: | |
| “Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door, | |
| And they are side by side. | 40 |
| |
| “My stockings there I often knit, | |
| My kerchief there I hem; | |
| And there upon the ground I sit, | |
| And sing a song to them. | |
| |
| “And often after sunset, sir, | 45 |
| When it is light and fair, | |
| I take my little porringer, | |
| And eat my supper there. | |
| |
| “The first that died was Sister Jane; | |
| In bed she moaning lay, | 50 |
| Till God released her of her pain; | |
| And then she went away. | |
| |
| “So in the churchyard she was laid; | |
| And, when the grass was dry, | |
| Together round her grave we played, | 55 |
| My brother John and I. | |
| |
| “And when the ground was white with snow, | |
| And I could run and slide, | |
| My brother John was forced to go, | |
| And he lies by her side.” | 60 |
| |
| “How many are you, then,” said I, | |
| “If they are two in heaven?” | |
| Quick was the little maid’s reply! | |
| “O Master! we are seven.” | |
| |
| “But they are dead; those two are dead! | 65 |
| Their spirits are in heaven!” | |
| ’T was throwing words away; for still | |
| The little maid would have her will, | |
| And said, “Nay, we are seven.” | |
| |
