Old Susan
Walter de la Mare
1873 to 1956
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When Susan's work was done, she'd sit
With one ______ guttering candle lit,
And window opened wide to win
______ sweet night air to enter in;
There, with a ______ to keep her place
She'd read, with stern and ______ face.
Her mild eyes gliding very slow
Across the ______ to and fro,
While wagged the guttering candle flame
______ the wind that through the window came.
And sometimes ______ the silence she
Would mumble a sentence audibly,
Or ______ her head as if to say,
'You silly souls, ______ act this way!'
And never a sound from ______ I'd hear,
Unless some far-off cock crowed clear;
Or ______ old shuffling thumb should turn
Another page; and rapt ______ stern,
Through her great glasses bent on me
She'd ______ into reality;
And shake her round old silvery head,
With—'You!—I thought you was in bed!'—
Only to ______ her book again,
And rooted in Romance remain.