Page:The Recluse, Wordsworth, 1888.djvu/30

18 They strangers, and we strangers, they a pair,

And we a solitary pair like them.

They should not have departed; many days

Did I look forth in vain, nor on the wing

Could see them, nor in that small open space

Of blue unfrozen water, where they lodged

And lived so long in quiet, side by side.

Shall we behold them consecrated friends,

Faithful companions, yet another year

Surviving, they for us, and we for them,

And neither pair be broken? nay perchance

It is too late already for such hope;

The Dalesmen may have aimed the deadly tube,

And parted them; or haply both are gone

One death, and that were mercy given to both.

Recall, my song, the ungenerous thought; forgive,