Nine tedious years; From their first separation, nine long years, She lingered in unquiet widowhood, A Wife and Widow. [Needs must it have been A sore heart-wasting!] I have heard, my Friend, That in yon arbour oftentimes she sate Alone, through half the vacant Sabbath-day; And if a dog passed by she still would quit The shade, and look abroad. On this old Bench For hours she sate; and evermore her eye Was busy in the distance, shaping things That made her heart beat quick. You see that path, [Now faint,--the grass has crept o'er its grey line;] There, to and fro, she paced through many a day Of the warm summer, from a belt of hemp That girt her waist, spinning the long drawn thread With backward steps. Yet ever as there pass'd A man whose garments shew'd the Soldier's[32] red, [Or crippled Mendicant in Sailor's garb], The little Child who sate to turn the wheel Ceas'd from his task; and she with faultering voice Made many a fond enquiry; and when they, Whose presence gave no comfort, were gone by, Her heart was still more sad. And by yon gate, That bars the Traveller's road, she often stood, And when a stranger Horseman came the latch Would lift, and in his face look wistfully; Most happy, if, from aught discovered there Of tender feeling, she might dare repeat The same sad question. Meanwhile her poor hut Sank to decay: for he was gone--whose hand, At the first nipping of October frost, Closed up each chink, and with fresh bands of straw Checquered the green-grown thatch. And so she lived Through the long winter, reckless and alone; Until her house by frost, and thaw, and rain, Was sapped; and while she slept the nightly damps Did chill her breast; and in the stormy day Her tattered clothes were ruffled by the wind; Even at the side of her own fire. Yet still She loved this wretched spot, nor would for worlds Have parted hence: and still that length of road, And this rude bench, one torturing hope endeared, Fast rooted at her heart: and here, my Friend, In sickness she remains; and here she died, Last human Tenant of these ruined Walls.--p. 44. [32] Her husband had enlisted for a soldier.