JASPAR. JASPAR was poor, and vice and want Had made his heart like stone; And Jaspar look'd with envious eyes On riches not his own. On plunder bent abroad he went Toward the close of day, And loiter'd on the lonely road No traveller came..he loiter'd long, And often look'd around, And paused and listen'd eagerly To catch some coming sound. He sate him down beside the stream That cross'd the lonely way, So fair a scene might well have charm'd All evil thoughts away: He sate beneath a willow tree A little island made; Where pleasantly the moon-beam shone Upon the poplar trees, Whose shadow on the stream below Play'd slowly to the breeze. He listen'd.. and he heard the wind He heard the waters flow along, He listen'd for the traveller's tread, The nightingale sung sweet,.. He started up, for now he heard He started up and graspt a stake, There came a lonely traveller, But Jaspar's threats and curses fail'd The traveller to appal, He would not lightly yield the purse Which held his little all. Awhile he struggled, but he strove With Jaspar's strength in vain; Beneath his blows he fell and groan'd, And never spake again. Jaspar raised up the murder'd man, And plunged him in the flood, And in the running water then He cleansed his hands from blood. The waters closed around the corpse, And cleansed his hands from gore, The willow waved, the stream flow'd on, And murmur'd as before. There was no human eye had seen The blood the murderer spilt, And Jaspar's conscience never knew And soon the ruffian had consumed The gold he gain'd so ill, And years of secret guilt pass'd on, One eve beside the alehouse fire He sate as it befell, When in there came a labouring man Whom Jaspar knew full well. He sate him down by Jaspar's side For spite of honest toil, the world Went hard with Jonathan. His toil a little earn'd, and he With little was content; But sickness on his wife had fallen, And all he had was spent. Then with his wife and little ones And saw their looks of wretchedness, |