Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/158

120 Fidelity.

sound the Shepherd hears,

A cry as of a dog or fox;

He halts—and searches with his eyes

Among the scattered rocks;

And now at distance can discern

A stirring in a brake of fern;

And instantly a Dog is seen,

Glancing through that covert green.

The Dog is not of mountain breed;

Its motions, too, are wild and shy;

With something, as the Shepherd thinks,

Unusual in its cry:

Nor is there any one in sight

All round, in hollow or on height;

Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear;

What is the Creature doing here?

It was a cove, a huge recess,

That keeps, till June, December's snow,

A lofty precipice in front,

A silent tarn below!

Far in the bosom of Helvellyn,

Remote from public road or dwelling,

Pathway, or cultivated land;

From trace of human foot or hand.