Crouch'd on the pavement close by Belgrave Square br A tramp I saw, ill, moody, and tongue-tied; br A babe was in her arms, and at her side br A girl; their clothes were rags, their feet were bare. br Some labouring men, whose work lay somewhere there, br Pass'd opposite; she touch'd her girl, who hied br Across, and begg'd and came back satisfied. br The rich she had let pass with frozen stare. br Thought I: Above her state this spirit towers; br She will not ask of aliens, but of friends, br Of sharers in a common human fate. br She turns from that cold succour, which attneds br The unknown little from the unknowing great, br And points us to a better time than ours.