Page:Tale of Paraguay - Southey.djvu/64

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Love, duty, generous feeling, tenderness, Spring in the uncontaminated mind; And these were Mooma's natural dower. Nor less Had liberal Nature to the boy assign'd. Happier herein than if among mankind Their lot had fallen,—oh, certes happier here! That all things tended still more close to bind Their earliest ties, and they from year to year Retain'd a childish heart, fond, simple, and sincere.

They had no sad reflection to alloy The calm contentment of the passing day, No foresight to disturb the present joy. Not so with Monnema; albeit the sway Of time had reach'd her heart, and worn away, At length, the grief so deeply seated there, The future often, like a burthen, lay Upon that heart, a cause of secret care And melancholy thought: yet did she not despair.