Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 2.djvu/160

152 Not free from boding thoughts, awhile

The Shepherd stood: then makes his way

Towards the Dog, o'er rocks and stones,

As quickly as he may;

Nor far had gone before he found

A human skeleton on the ground;

The appalled Discoverer with a sigh

Looks round, to learn the history.

From those abrupt and perilous rocks

The Man had fallen, that place of fear!

At length upon the Shepherd's mind

It breaks, and all is clear:

He instantly recalled the Name,

And who he was, and whence he came;

Remembered, too, the very day

On which the Traveller passed this way.

But hear a wonder, for whose sake

This lamentable Tale I tell!

A lasting monument of words

This wonder merits well.

The Dog, which still was hovering nigh,

Repeating the same timid cry,

This Dog had been through three months' space

A Dweller in that savage place.