Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/115

BOOK IV.] I turned my head to look if he were there;

Then into solemn thought I passed once more.

A freshness also found I at this time

In human Life, the daily life of those

Whose occupations really I loved;

The peaceful scene oft filled me with surprise

Changed like a garden in the heat of spring

After an eight-days' absence. For (to omit

The things which were the same and yet appeared

Far otherwise) amid this rural solitude,

A narrow Vale where each was known to all,

'Twas not indifferent to a youthful mind

To mark some sheltering bower or sunny nook,

Where an old man had used to sit alone,

Now vacant; pale-faced babes whom I had left

In arms, now rosy prattlers at the feet

Of a pleased grandame tottering up and down;

And growing girls whose beauty, filched away

With all its pleasant promises, was gone

To deck some slighted playmate's homely cheek.

Yes, I had something of a subtler sense,

And often looking round was moved to smiles

Such as a delicate work of humour breeds;