I was a cottage maiden
Hardened by sun and air
Contented with my cottage mates,
Not mindful I was fair.
Why did a great lord find me out,
And praise my flaxen hair?
Why did a great lord find me out,
To fill my heart with care?
He lured me to his palace home –
Woe’s me for joy thereof-
To lead a shameless shameful life,
His plaything and his love.
He wore me like a silken knot,
He changed me like a glove;
So now I moan, an unclean thing,
Who might have been a dove.
O Lady kate, my cousin Kate,
You grew more fair than I:
He saw you at your father’s gate,
Chose you, and cast me by.
He watched your steps along the lane,
Your work among the rye;
He lifted you from mean estate
To sit with him on high.
Because you were so good and pure
He bound you with his ring:
The neighbors call you good and pure,
Call me an outcast thing.
Even so I sit and howl in dust,
You sit in gold and sing:
Now which of us has tenderer heart?
You had the stronger wing.
O cousin Kate, my love was true,
Your love was writ in sand:
If he had fooled not me but you,
If you stood where I stand,
He’d not have won me with his love
Nor bought me with his land;
I would have spit into his face
And not have taken his hand.
Yet I’ve a gift you have not got,
And seem not like to get:
For all your clothes and wedding-ring
I’ve little doubt you fret.
My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride,
Cling closer, closer yet:
Your father would give his lands for one
To wear his coronet.
(Christina Rossetti)
More Poetry from Christina Rossetti:
Christina Rossetti Poems based on Topics: Love, Life, Gold, Fairness, Hair, Charity, Pride, Sons, Fathers- Promises Like Pie-Crust (Christina Rossetti Poems)
- The Thread of Life (Christina Rossetti Poems)
- In The Willow Shade (Christina Rossetti Poems)
- A Study (A Soul) (Christina Rossetti Poems)
- Later life (Christina Rossetti Poems)
- Is it Well with the Child? (Christina Rossetti Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Life Poems, Fairness Poems, Gold Poems, Sons Poems, Fathers Poems, Hair Poems, Charity Poems, Pride PoemsBased on Keywords: outcast, shameless, rye, kate, lured, fooled, coronet, fair-haired, flaxen, wedding-ring, plaything
- A Poem On The African Slave Trade. Addressed To Her Own Sex. Part II (Mary Birkett Card Poems)
- The Battle Of The Lake Regillus (Thomas Babbington Macaulay Poems)
- Fireflies (Rabindranath Tagore Poems)
- Kensington Garden (Thomas Tickell Poems)
- The Feast Of The Virgins - The Feast Of The Virgins (Hanford Lennox Gordon Poems)