Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/115

55 Our Highland Boy oft visited

The house which held this prize; and, led

By choice or chance, did thither come

One day when no one was at home,

And found the door unbarred.

While there he sate, alone and blind,

That Story flashed upon his mind;—

A bold thought rouzed him, and he took

The Shell from out its secret nook,

And bore it in his arms.

And with the happy burthen hied,

And pushed it from Loch Levin's side,—

Stepped into it; and, without dread,

Following the fancies in his head,

He paddled up and down.

A while he stood upon his feet;

He felt the motion—took his seat;

And dallied thus, till from the shore

The tide retreating more and more

Had sucked, and sucked him in.