Alas! the fervent Harper did not know Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; The sleep that is among the lonely hills. In him the savage virtue of the Race, Glad were the Vales, and every cottage hearth; The Shepherd Lord was honoured more and more; And, ages after he was laid in earth, "The Good Lord Clifford" was the name he bore. THE LEECH-GATHERER; OR, RESOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE. THERE was a roaring in the wind all night; All things that love the sun are out of doors; The sky rejoices in the morning's birth; The grass is bright with rain-drops ;-on the moors The Hare is running races in her mirth; And with her feet she from the plashy earth Raises a mist; that, glittering in the sun, Runs with her all the way, wherever she doth run. I was a traveller then upon the moor; But, as it sometimes chanceth, from the might And fears and fancies thick upon me came; name. I heard the Sky-lark warbling in the sky; My whole life I have lived in pleasant thought, I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous Boy, We Poets in our youth begin in gladness; But thereof comes in the end despondency and madness. Now, whether it were by peculiar grace, A leading from above, a something given, Yet it befel, that, in this lonely place, When I with these untoward thoughts had striven, Beside a pool bare to the eye of heaven I saw a Man before me unawares : The oldest man he seemed that ever wore grey hairs. As a huge Stone is sometimes seen to lie By what means it could thither come, and whence; Such seemed this Man, not all alive nor dead, A more than human weight upon his frame had cast. Himself he propped, his body, limbs, and face, At length, himself unsettling, he the Pond Stirred with his Staff, and fixedly did look Upon the muddy water, which he conned, As if he had been reading in a book: And now a stranger's privilege I took; And, drawing to his side, to him did say, "This morning gives us promise of a glorious day." A gentle answer did the Old-man make, In courteous speech which forth he slowly drew: And him with further words I thus bespake, "What occupation do you there pursue? This is a lonesome place for one like you." He answered, while a flash of mild surprise Broke from the sable orbs of his yet vivid eyes. His words came feebly, from a feeble chest, Choice word and measured phrase, above the reach Such as grave livers do in Scotland use, Religious men, who give to God and Man their dues. 66 He told, that to these waters he had come From pond to pond he roamed, from moor to moor; The Old-man still stood talking by my side; Or like a man from some far region sent, To give me human strength, by apt admonishment. My former thoughts returned: the fear that kills; And hope that is unwilling to be fed ; Cold, pain, and labour, and all fleshly ills; -Perplexed, and longing to be comforted, My question eagerly did I renew, How is it that you live, and what is it you do?" |