Page:Peter Bell (Wordsworth).djvu/81

Part III. The unheeding Ass moves slowly on

And now is passing by an inn

Brim-full of a carousing crew,

Making, with curses not a few,

An uproar and a drunken din.

I cannot well express the thoughts

Which Peter in those noises found;—

A stifling power compressed his frame,

As if confusing darkness came

Over that dull and dreary sound.

For well did Peter know the sounds

The language of those drunken joys

To him, a jovial soul I ween,

But a few hours ago had been

A gladsome and a welcome noise.