Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By Wings of the Morning (1904). II. An Angel Unawares

Cicely Fox-Smith (1882–1954)

YE gave me of your broken meat

And of your lees o’ wine,

That I should sit and sing for you

All at your banquet fine.

Ye gave me shelter from the storm

And straw to make my bed,

And let me sleep through the wild night

With cattle in the shed.

Ye know not from what lordly feast

Hither I come this night,

Nor to what lodging with the stars

From hence I take my flight.

But there’s such wine that warms my blood

As yet you never knew,

So that I heed not wet nor cold,

Nor rags the winds blow through.

If I might sing the song I heard

Ere I came to your door,

Ye should set down the brimming cup

Nor heed the banquet more.

Ye may not hear the songs I hear,

Nor share that feast o’ mine,

To whom ye gave your broken meat

And of your lees o’ wine.