Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/411

385 Tells from what pool the noblest had been dragged;

And where the very monarch of the brook,

After long struggle, had escaped at last—

Stealing alternately at them and us

(As doth his Comrade too) a look of pride.

And, verily, the silent Creatures made

A splendid sight, together thus exposed;

Dead—but not sullied or deformed by Death,

That seemed to pity what he could not spare.

But oh! the animation in the mien

Of those two Boys! Yea in the very words

With which the young Narrator was inspired,

When, as our questions led, he told at large

Of that day's prowess! Him might I compare,

His look, tones, gestures, eager eloquence,

To a bold Brook which splits for better speed,

And, at the self-same moment, works its way

Through many channels, ever and anon

Parted and reunited: his Compeer

To the still Lake, whose stillness is to the eye

As beautiful, as grateful to the mind.

—But to what object shall the lovely Girl