Ah! see her helpless Charge! enclos'd To fear of loss, and hope of gain, The persons that before them go, Her buoyant Spirit can prevail Where common cheerfulness would fail : She strikes upon him with the heat I look'd, I scann'd her o'er and o'er; A remnant of uneasy light, A flash of something over-bright! And soon she made this matter plain; So be it! but let praise ascend To Him who is our Lord and Friend! Who from disease and suffering Hath call'd for thee a second Spring; Repaid thee for that sore distress By no untimely joyousness; Which makes of thine a blissful state; And cheers thy melancholy Mate! 6. TO A HIGHLAND GIRL. (At Inversneyde, upon Loch Lomond.) Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower Twice seven consenting years have shed Their utmost bounty on thy head: And these gray Rocks; this household Lawn; These Trees, a veil just half withdrawn ; This fall of water, that doth make A murmur near the silent Lake; This little Bay, a quiet Road That holds in shelter thy Abode; In truth together ye do seem Like something fashion'd in a dream; Such Forms as from their covert peep With earnest feeling I shall pray In which more plainly I could trace Here, scatter'd like a random seed, And maidenly shamefacedness: Thou wear'st upon thy forehead clear A face with gladness overspread ! Of thoughts, that lie beyond the reach What hand but would a garland cull For thee who art so beautiful? |