VI. With staff in hand across the cleft When list! he hears a piteous moan A Lamb, that in the pool is pent VII. The Lamb had slipp'd into the stream, The Cataract had borne him down His Dam had seen him when he fell, And, while with all a mother's love She from the lofty rocks above Sent forth a cry forlorn, The Lamb, still swimming round and round, Made answer to that plaintive sound. VIII. When he had learnt what thing it was, That sent this rueful cry; I ween, And there the helpless Lamb he found By those huge rocks encompass'd round. IX. He drew it gently from the pool, And brought it forth into the light: The Shepherds met him with his charge, An unexpected sight! Into their arms the Lamb they took, Said they, "He's neither maim'd nor scarr❜d." Then up the steep ascent they hied, And placed him at his Mother's side; And gently did the Bard Those idle Shepherd-boys upbraid, And bade them better mind their trade. XIII. To H. C. SIX YEARS OLD. O THOU! whose fancies from afar are brought; Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel, And fittest to unutterable thought The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol; Thou faery Voyager! that dost float In such clear water, that thy Boat May rather seem To brood on air than on an earthly stream; Suspended in a stream as clear as sky, Where earth and heaven do make one imagery; O blessed Vision! happy Child! That art so exquisitely wild, I think of thee with many fears For what may be thy lot in future years. I thought of times when Pain might be thy guest, Lord of thy house and hospitality; And Grief, uneasy Lover! never rest But when she sate within the touch of thee. Oh! too industrious folly! Oh! vain and causeless melancholy! Nature will either end thee quite; Or, lengthening out thy season of delight, A young Lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks. Or the injuries of to-morrow? Thou art a Dew-drop, which the morn brings forth, Ill fitted to sustain unkindly shocks; Or to be trail'd along the soiling earth; A gem that glitters while it lives, And no forewarning gives; But, at the touch of wrong, without a strife Slips in a moment out of life. XIV. INFLUENCE OF NATURAL OBJECTS IN CALLING FORTH AND STRENGTHENING THE IMAGINATION IN BOYHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH; From an unpublished Poem. (This extract is reprinted from "THE FRIEND.") WISDOM and Spirit of the Universe! Thou Soul, that art the Eternity of thought! By day or star-light, thus from my first dawn |