Page:Songs of the Road Doyle.djvu/52

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THE OUTCASTS

Three women stood by the river's flood
In the gas-lamp's murky light,
A devil watched them on the left,
And an angel on the right.

The clouds of lead flowed overhead;
The leaden stream below;
They marvelled much, that outcast three,
Why Fate should use them so.

Said one: 'I have a mother dear,
Who lieth ill abed,
And by my sin the wage I win
From which she hath her bread.'