Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/227

219 Luke had a manly heart; but at these words

He sobb'd aloud; the Old Man grasp'd his hand,

And said, "Nay do not take it so—I see

That these are things of which I need not speak.

—Even to the utmost I have been to thee

A kind and a good Father; and herein

I but repay a gift which I myself

Receiv'd at others hands, for, though now old

Beyond the common life of man, I still

Remember them who lov'd me in my youth.

Both of them sleep together: here they liv'd

As all their Forefathers had done, and when

At length their time was come, they were not loth

To give their bodies to the family mold.

I wish'd that thou should'st live the life they liv'd.

But 'tis a long time to look back, my Son,

And see so little gain from sixty years.

These fields were burthen'd when they came to me;

'Till I was forty years of age, not more