Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/28

20 But, for that moping son of Idleness

Why can he tarry yonder?—In our church-yard

Is neither epitaph nor monument,

Tomb-stone nor name, only the turf we tread,

And a few natural graves. To Jane, his Wife,

Thus spake the homely Priest of Ennerdale.

It was a July evening, and he sate

Upon the long stone-seat beneath the eaves

Of his old cottage, as it chanced that day,

Employ'd in winter's work. Upon the stone

His Wife sate near him, teasing matted wool,

While, from the twin cards tooth'd with glittering wire,

He fed the spindle of his youngest child,

Who turn'd her large round wheel in the open air

With back and forward steps. Towards the field

In which the parish chapel stood alone,

Girt round with a bare ring of mossy wall,

While half an hour went by, the Priest had sent

Many a long look of wonder, and at last,

Risen from his seat, beside the snowy ridge