When, pennyless and sad, you met with me,
I'd just escap'd the dangers of the Sea;
Resolv'd to try my fortune on the shore:
To get my bread; and trust the waves no more.
Having no Home, nor Parents, left behind,
I'd all my fortune, all my Friends, to find.
Keen disappointment wounded me that morn:
For, trav'ling near the spot where I was born,
I at the well-known door where I was bred,
Inquir'd who still was living, who was dead:
But first, and most, I sought with anxious fear
Tidings to gain of her who once was dear;
A Girl, with all the meekness of the dove,
The constant sharer of my childhood's love;
She call'd me Brother:— which I heard with pride,
Though now suspect we are not so allied.
Thus much I learnt; ( no more the churls would say;)
She went to service, and she ran away.