THE GIPSY GIRL

By Ralph Hodgson

“COME, try your skill, kind gentlemen,

A penny for three tries!”

Some threw and lost, some threw and won

A ten-a-penny prize.

She was a tawny gipsy girl,

A girl of twenty years,

I liked her for the lumps of gold

That jingled from her ears;

I liked the flaring yellow scarf

Bound loose around her throat,

I liked her showy purple gown

And flashy velvet coat.

A man came up, too loose of tongue,

And said no good to her;

She did not blush as Saxons do,

Or turn upon the cur;

She fawned and whined “Sweet gentleman,

A penny for three tries!”

—But oh, the den of wild things in

The darkness of her eyes!