Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 1, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/95

43 VIII.

"Now wherefore thus, by day and night,

"In rain, in tempest, and in snow

"Thus to the dreary mountain-top

"Does this poor woman go?

"And why sits she beside the thorn

"When the blue day-light's in the sky,

"Or when the whirlwind's on the hill,

"Or frosty air is keen and still,

"And wherefore does she cry?—

"Oh wherefore? wherefore? tell me why

"Does she repeat that doleful cry?"

IX.

I cannot tell; I wish I could;

For the true reason no one knows,

But if you'd gladly view the spot,

The spot to which she goes;

The heap that's like an infant's grave,