Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/208

148

Ruth was left half desolate

Her Father took another Mate;

And Ruth, not seven years old,

A slighted Child, at her own will

Went wandering over dale and hill,

In thoughtless freedom bold.

And she had made a Pipe of straw,

And from that oaten Pipe could draw

All sounds of winds and floods;

Had built a Bower upon the green,

As if she from her birth had been

An Infant of the woods.

Beneath her Father's roof, alone

She seemed to live; her thoughts her own;

Herself her own delight:

Pleased with herself, nor sad nor gay,

She passed her time; and in this way

Grew up to Woman's height.