"Thou know'st that twice a day I have brought thee in this can Fresh water from the brook, as clear as ever ran; And twice in the day, when the ground is wet with dew, I bring thee draughts of milk, new. warm milk it is and "It will not, will not rest! poor creature, can it be That 'tis thy mother's heart which is working so in thee? Things that I know not of belike to thee are dear, And dreams of things which thou canst neither see nor hear." As homeward through the lane I went with lazy feet, And it seemed, as I retraced the ballad line by line, Again, and once again, did I repeat the song; 66 Nay," said I, "more than half to the damsel must belong, For she looked with such a look, and she spake with such a tone, That I almost received her heart into mine own." WORDSWORTH. 46 POOR SUSAN. POOR SUSAN. At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears, There's a thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years; Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard In the silence of morning the song of the bird. 'Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees A mountain ascending, a vision of trees; Bright volumes of vapor through Lothbury glide, Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale, She looks, and her heart is in heaven; but they fade, - WORDSWORTH. LUCY GRAY; OR, SOLITUDE. Oft have I heard of Lucy Gray; No mate, no comrade, Lucy knew: 48 LUCY GRAY; OR, SOLITUDE. "To-night will be a stormy night, — You to the town must go; And take a lantern, child, to light "That, father, will I gladly do; The minster clock has just struck two, At this the father raised his hook Not blither is the mountain roe; The storm came on before its time: The wretched parents all that night But there was neither sound nor sight At daybreak on a hill they stood And thence they saw the bridge of wood, You yet may spy the fawn at play,. The hare upon the green; But the sweet face of Lucy Gray Will never more be seen. And, turning homeward, now they cried, Then downward from the steep hill's edge And then an open field they crossed: And to the bridge they came. They followed from the snowy bank The footmarks one by one, Into the middle of the plank; And farther were there none ! |