There let me see thee sink into a mood

Of gentler thought, protracted till thine eye
Be calm as water when the winds are gone,
And no one can tell whither. Dearest Friend!
We two have known such happy hours together,
That, were power granted to replace them (fetched
From out the pensive shadows where they lie)
In the first warmth of their original sunshine,
Loth should I be to use it: passing sweet
Are the domains of tender memory!

XXIV.

FIDELITY.

A BARKING Sound the Shepherd hears,
A cry as of a Dog or Fox;

He halts and searches with his eyes
Among the scattered rocks:

And now at distance can discern
A stirring in a brake of fern;
And instantly a dog is seen,
Glancing through that covert green.

The Dog is not of mountain breed ;
Its motions, too, are wild and shy;

With something, as the Shepherd thinks,

Unusual in its cry:

Nor is there any one in sight

All round, in hollow or on height;

Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear;

What is the Creature doing here?

It was a cove, a huge recess,

That keeps, till June, December's snow;

A lofty precipice in front,

A silent tarn * below!

Far in the bosom of Helvellyn,

Remote from public road or dwelling,
Pathway, or cultivated land;

From trace of human foot or hand.

There sometimes doth a leaping fish
Send through the tarn a lonely cheer;
The crags repeat the raven's croak,
In symphony austere ;

Thither the Rainbow comes the Cloud

And Mists that spread the flying shroud;
And Sunbeams; and the sounding Blast,
That, if it could, would hurry past;

But that enormous barrier binds it fast.

Not free from boding thoughts, a while
The Shepherd stood: then makes his way
Towards the Dog, o'er rocks and stones,
As quickly as he may;

Nor far had gone before he found
A human skeleton on the ground;

The appalled Discoverer with a sigh
Looks round, to learn the history.

* Tarn is a small Mere or Lake, mostly high up in the mountains.

From those abrupt and perilous rocks
The Man had fallen, that place of fear!
At length upon the Shepherd's mind
It breaks, and all is clear:

He instantly recalled the Name,

And who he was, and whence he came ;
Remembered, too, the very day

On which the Traveller passed this way.

But hear a wonder, for whose sake
This lamentable Tale I tell!

A lasting monument of words

This wonder merits well.'

The Dog, which still was hovering nigh,

Repeating the same timid cry,

This Dog, had been through three months' space

A Dweller in that savage place.

Yes, proof was plain that since the day

When this ill-fated Traveller died

The Dog had watched about the spot,

Or by his Master's side:

How nourished here through such long time
He knows, who gave that love sublime;
And gave that strength of feeling, great
Above all human estimate.

Where battlement and moated gate

Are objects only for the hand

Of hoary Time to decorate;

Where shady hamlet, town that breathes
Its busy smoke in social wreaths,
No rampart's stern defence require,
Nought but the heaven-directed Spire,

And steeple Tower (with pealing bells
Far heard) — our only Citadels.

O Lady! from a noble line

Of Chieftains sprung, who stoutly bore