Page:The Poems and Prose remains of Arthur Hugh Clough, volume 2 (1869).djvu/21

 I could have fallen upon my knee, Thy stately elms, thy grey church-tower. So then I took my homeward way, My heart in sweet and holy frame, With spirit, I may dare to say, More good and soft than when I came.

’ on a sunny summer day I trod a mighty city’s street, And when I started on my way My heart was full of fancies sweet; But soon, as nothing could be seen, But countenances sharp and keen, Nought heard or seen around but told Of something bought or something sold, And none that seemed to think or care That any save himself was there,—

Full soon my heart began to sink With a strange shame and inward pain, For I was sad within to think Of this absorbing love of gain, And various thoughts my bosom tost; When suddenly my path there crossed, Locked hand in hand with one another, A little maiden and her brother A little maiden, and she wore Around her waist a pinafore.

And hand in hand along the street This pretty pair did softly go, And as they went, their little feet Moved in short even steps and slow