And wild notes warbled among leafy bowers; STANZAS WRITTEN IN MY POCKET-COPY OF THOMSON'S 66 CASTLE OF INDOLENCE" WITHIN Our happy castle there dwelt one Seek for him; he is fled; and whither none can say. Thus often would he leave our peaceful home, Out of our valley's limits did he roam : Full many a time, upon a stormy night, His voice came to us from the neighbouring height: At mid-day when the sun was shining bright; Ah! piteous sight it was to see this man Down would he sit; and without strength or power And, like a naked Indian, slept himself away. Great wonder to our gentle tribe it was Some thought far worse of him, and judged him wrong; With him there often walked in friendly guise, Sweet heaven forefend! his was a lawful right; His limbs would toss about him with delight, He would have taught you how you might employ And certes not in vain; he had inventions rare. Expedients, too, of simplest sort he tried: Long blades of grass, plucked round him as he lay, A pipe on which the wind would deftly play; A mailèd angel on a battle-day; The mysteries that cups of flowers enfold, And all the gorgeous sights which fairies do behold. He would entice that other man to hear His music, and to view his imagery: And, sooth, these two were each to the other dear : If but a bird, to keep them company, Or butterfly sate down, they were, I ween, As pleased as if the same had been a maiden-queen. LOUISA AFTER ACCOMPANYING HER ON A MOUNTAIN EXCURSION I MET Louisa in the shade, And, having seen that lovely maid, That, nymph-like, she is fleet and strong, And she hath smiles to earth unknown; Do spread, and sink, and rise; That come and go with endless play, She loves her fire, her cottage-home; And, when against the wind she strains, Take all that's mine "beneath the moon," May sit beneath the walls Of some old cave, or mossy nook, "STRANGE FITS OF PASSION HAVE I KNOWN" STRANGE fits of passion have I known : But in the lover's ear alone, What once to me befell. When she I loved looked every day Fresh as a rose in June, I to her cottage bent my way, Upon the moon I fixed my eye, All over the wide lea; With quickening pace my horse drew nigh Those paths so dear to me. And now we reached the orchard-plot; And, as we climbed the hill, The sinking moon to Lucy's cot Came near, and nearer still. In one of those sweet dreams I slept, Kind Nature's gentlest boon! And all the while my eyes I kept My horse moved on; hoof after hoof What fond and wayward thoughts will slide Into a lover's head! "O mercy!" to myself I cried, If Lucy should be dead!" "SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS" SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways A maid whom there were none to praise, A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye! She lived unknown, and few could know But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me! "I TRAVELLED AMONG UNKNOWN MEN I TRAVELLED among unknown men, 'Tis past, that melancholy dream! Among thy mountains did I feel And she I cherished turned her wheel دو |