Child of the Year! that round dost run Thy course, bold lover of the sun, And chearful when the day's begun Thou long the Poet's praise shalt gain; In times to come; thou not in vain LOUIS A. I met Louisa in the shade; And, having seen that lovely Maid, Why should I fear to say That she is ruddy, fleet, and strong; And down the rocks can leap along, And she hath smiles to earth unknown; Smiles, that with motion of their own Do spread, and sink, and rise; That come and go with endless play, And ever, as they pass away, Are hidden in her eyes. She loves her fire, her Cottage-home; Yet o'er the moorland will she roam And when against the wind she strains, Take all that's mine "beneath the moon," If I with her but half a noon May sit beneath the walls Of some old cave, or mossy nook, When up she winds along the brook, To hunt the waterfalls. FIDELITY. A barking sound the Shepherd hears, A cry as of a Dog or Fox; He halts, and searches with his eyes Among the scatter'd rocks: And now at distance can discern A stirring in a brake of fern; From which immediately leaps out A Dog, and yelping runs about. The Dog is not of mountain breed ; It's motions, too, are wild and shy; With something, as the Shepherd thinks, Nor is there any one in sight All round, in Hollow or on Height; Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear; It was a Cove, a huge Recess, That keeps till June December's snow; A lofty Precipice in front, A silent Tarn * below! Far in the bosom of Helvellyn, Remote from public Road or Dwelling, Pathway, or cultivated land; From trace of human foot or hand. * Tarn is a small Mere or Lake mostly high up in the mountains. |