Crouch'd on the pavement close by Belgrave SquareA tramp I saw, ill, moody, and tongue-tied;
A babe was in her arms, and at her sideA girl; their clothes were rags, their feet were bare.
Some labouring men, whose work lay somewhere there,
Pass'd opposite; she touch'd her girl, who
Across, and begg'd and came back satisfied.
The rich she had let pass with frozen stare.
Thought I:
Above her state this spirit towers;
She will not ask of aliens, but of friends,
Of sharers in a common human fate.
She turns from that cold succour, which
The unknown little from the unknowing great,
And points us to a better time than ours.
