The Slow Nature

(An Incident Of Froom Valley)     "Thy husband poor, poor Heart! is dead     Dead, out by Moreford Rise;     A bull escaped the barton-shed,     Gored him, and there he lies!"     - "Ha, ha go away! 'Tis a tale, methink,     Thou joker Kit!" laughed she.     "I've known thee many a year, Kit Twink,     And ever hast thou fooled me!"     - "But, Mistress Damon I can swear     Thy goodman John is dead!     And soon th'lt hear their feet who bear     His body to his bed."     So unwontedly sad was the merry man's face -     That face which had long deceived -     That she gazed and gazed; and then could trace     The truth there; and she believed.     She laid a hand on the dresser-ledge,     And scanned far Egdon-side;     And stood; and you heard the wind-swept sedge     And the rippling Froom; till she cried:     "O my chamber's untidied, unmade my bed     Though the day has begun to wear!     'What a slovenly hussif!' it will be said,     When they all go up my stair!"     She disappeared; and the joker stood     Depressed by his neighbour's doom,     And amazed that a wife struck to widowhood     Thought first of her unkempt room.     But a fortnight thence she could take no food,     And she pined in a slow decay;     While Kit soon lost his mournful mood     And laughed in his ancient way.     1894.