Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/318

292 "Upon the light with cheerfulness, for thee

"My Infant; and for that good Mother dear,

"Who bore me,—and hath prayed for me in vain;—

"Yet not in vain, it shall not be in vain."

She spake, nor was the assurance unfulfilled,

And if heart-rending thoughts would oft return

They stayed not long.—The blameless Infant grew;

The Child whom Ellen and her Mother loved

They soon were proud of: tended it and nursed,

A soothing comforter, although forlorn;

Like a poor singing-bird from distant lands;

Or a choice shrub, which he, who passes by

With vacant mind, not seldom may observe

Fair-flowering in a thinly-peopled house,

Whose window, somewhat sadly, it adorns.

—Through four months' space the Infant drew its food

From the maternal breast; then scruples rose;

Thoughts, which the rich are free from, came and crossed

The sweet affection. She no more could bear

By her offence to lay a twofold weight

On a kind parent willing to forget

Their slender means, so, to that parent's care

Trusting her child, she left their common home,