37 The Blind Beggar (1892/1912)
Arthur Symons
“The Blind Beggar” by Arthur Symons was first published in his 1892 collection Silhouettes. However, this version is from the 1912 collection Poems, vol. 1, which has been digitized by the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library and is available on the Internet Archive. The poem is in the public domain.
The editorial notes are available under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Unless otherwise attributed, they were written by Dr. Kylee-Anne Hingston at the University of Saskatchewan.
The Blind Beggar
He stands, a patient figure, where the crowd
Heaves to and fro; a sound is in his ears
As of a vexed sea roaring, and he hears
In darkness, as a dead man in his shroud.
5
Patient he stands, with age and sorrow bowed,
And holds a piteous hat of ancient years;
And in his face and gesture there appears
The desperate humbleness of poor men proud.
What thoughts are his, as, with the inward sight,
10
He sees the glad unheeding Fair go by?
Is the long darkness darker for that light,
And sorrow nearer when such mirth is nigh?
Patient, alone, he stands from morn to night,
Pleading in his reproachful misery.
Work Cited
Symons, Arthur. “The Blind Beggar.” Poems, vol. 1, William Heinemann, 1912. Internet Archive, uploaded by Robarts Library, U of Toronto, 21 Nov. 2006, archive.org/details/poemssym01symouoft/page/36/mode/2up.
