The Blind Boy

The Blind Boy written by Walter de la Mare

Motley and Other Poems (1918)

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"I have no master," said the Blind Boy,
  "My mother, 'Dame Venus' they do call;
Cowled in this hood she sent me begging
  For whate'er in pity may befall.

"Hard was her visage, me adjuring,--
  'Have no fond mercy on the kind!
Here be sharp arrows, bunched in quiver,
  Draw close ere striking--thou art blind.'

"So stand I here, my woes entreating,
  In this dark alley, lest the Moon
Point with her sparkling my barbed armoury
  Shine on my silver-lacèd shoon.

"Oh, sir, unkind this Dame to me-ward;
  Of the salt billow was her birth ...
In your sweet charity draw nearer
  The saddest rogue on Earth!"

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