Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/283

223 There is a comfort in the strength of love;

'Twill make a thing endurable, which else

Would break the heart:—Old Michael found it so.

I have conversed with more than one who well

Remember the Old Man, and what he was

Years after he had heard this heavy news.

His bodily frame had been from youth to age

Of an unusual strength. Among the rocks

He went, and still looked up upon the sun,

And listened to the wind; and as before

Performed all kinds of labour for his Sheep,

And for the land his small inheritance.

And to that hollow Dell from time to time

Did he repair, to build the Fold of which

His flock had need. 'Tis not forgotten yet

The pity which was then in every heart

For the Old Man—and 'tis believed by all

That many and many a day he thither went,

And never lifted up a single stone.

There, by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was he seen

Sitting alone, with that his faithful Dog,

Then old, beside him, lying at his feet.