Brief Lives

A short verse biography of a well-known person from history

Not hardy, but a weakling born, Ay, weakling born, Who lived a life forlorn and torn To shreds by woes and strife: Two marriages and both a curse The first a pain, the second worse, Small wonder that, in doleful verse, He rued his troubled life. Confessed as one ‘who no heart hath’, Ay, ‘no heart hath’, Who trod the cheerless Egdon path Beset by wind and rain, Such words were uttered not in jest, For now, long severed from his breast, His heart twixt both wives lies at rest Freed finally from pain.