Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/23

15 Of mirth and jocund din. And, when it chanced

That pauses of deep silence mock'd his skill,

Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung

Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprize

Has carried far into his heart the voice

Of mountain torrents, or the visible scene

Would enter unawares into his mind

With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,

Its woods, and that uncertain heaven, receiv'd

Into the bosom of the steady lake.

Fair are the woods, and beauteous is the spot,

The vale where he was born: the Church-yard hangs

Upon a slope above the village school,

And there along that bank when I have pass'd

At evening, I believe, that near his grave

A full half-hour together I have stood,

Mute——for he died when he was ten years old.