Page:Lyrical Ballads (Coleridge).djvu/154



He saw me, and he turned aside, As if he wished himself to hide: Then with his coat he made essay To wipe those briny tears away. I follow'd him, and said, "My friend "What ails you? wherefore weep you so! —"Shame on me, Sir! this lusty lamb, He makes my tears to flow. To-day I fetched him from the rock; He is the last of all my flock.

When I was young, a single man, And after youthful follies ran, Though little given to care and thought, Yet, so it was, a ewe I bought; And other sheep from her I raised, As healthy sheep as you might see. And then I married, and was rich As I could wish to be; Of sheep I number'd a full score, And every year encreas'd my store.