Nellie Clark + 

I was only eight years old; + 

And before I grew up and knew what it meant + 

I had no words for it, except + 

That I was frightened and told my Mother; + 

And that my Father got a pistol + 

And would have killed Charlie, who was a big boy, + 

Fifteen years old, except for his Mother. + 

Nevertheless the story clung to me. + 

But the man who married me, a widower of thirty-five, + 

Was a newcomer and never heard it + 

Till two years after we were married. + 

Then he considered himself cheated, + 

And the village agreed that I was not really a virgin. + 

Well, he deserted me, and I died + 

The following winter. + 