THE MARKET GIRL  

Thomas Hardy 1840-1928

Nobody took any notice of her as she stood on the causey kerb*,

All eager to sell her honey and apples and bunches of garden herb;

And if she had offered to give her wares and herself with them too that day,

I doubt if a soul would have cared to take a bargain so choice away.

But chancing to trace her sunburnt grace that morning as I passed nigh,

I went and I said "Poor maidy dear! - and will none of the people buy?"

And so it began; and soon we knew what the end of it all must be,

And I found that, though no others had bid, a prize had been won by me.

*causey - a paved pathway

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