X.

Man all at once was there by woman slain,

And one by one we're here slain o'er again

By them. The mother poison'd the well-head;

The daughters here corrupt us rivulets;

No smallness 'scapes, no greatness breaks, their nets:

She thrust us out, and by them we are led

Astray from turning to whence we are fled.

Were prisoners judges 't would seem rigorous;

She sinned, we bear: part of our pain is thus

To love them whose fault to this painful love yoked us.

Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 1 · 第 217 / 326 题