Cambridge Poets 1900–1913

H . 0 . Meredith . We lived and watched the children grow With vermin in their hair , With hollow cheeks , with foreheads low , With eyes that looked despair ; One after one they learned at school That honesty will pay ; One after one they found the rule Broken upon life's way . And now they brought their shillings back , Their shillings five or seven , And hope once more had found a crack To shine on us from Heaven . Our spending grew and counted up To two pounds ten a week ; Each body had daily bite and sup, And each grew almost sleek . It couldn 't last, the children moved And made their scattered beds , Their mother died and I had proved Too hard my vigour 's threads. With hair gone grey and muscle stiff , Eye dim and hearing slow , I stand at fifty on the cliff And feel the surf below . 110