The Housewife, tempted by such slender gains As might from that occasion be distilled, Opened, as she before had done for me, Her doors to admit this homeless Pensioner; The portion gave of coarse but wholesome fare For spendthrift feats, excesses of his prime. I loved the Old Man, for I pitied him! Mild, inoffensive, ready in his way, And useful to his utmost power: and there Our Housewife knew full well what she possess'd! He was her Vassal of all labour, tilled Her garden, from the pasture fetched her Kine; Of Hay-makers, beneath the burning sun So moved he like a Shadow that performed Into my little sanctuary rushed, Voice to a rueful treble humanized, And features in deplorable dismay.— I treat the matter lightly, but alas! It is most serious: from mid-noon the rain Had fallen in torrents; all the mountain tops Were hidden, and black vapours coursed their sides; This had I seen and saw; but, till she spake, Was wholly ignorant that my ancient Friend, Who at her bidding, early and alone, Had clomb aloft to delve the mountain turf Came not, and now perchance upon the Heights And long and hopelessly we sought in vain. In which the Peasants of these lonely Dells For worship met upon that central height)— It would have moved you, had you seen the guise So was he lifted gently from the ground, And with their freight the Shepherds homeward moved N Through the dull mist, I following-when a step, A single step, that freed me from the skirts Of the blind vapour, opened to my view By waking sense or by the dreaming soul! -Though I am conscious that no power of words A wilderness of building, sinking far And self-withdrawn into a wondrous depth, By earthly nature had the effect been wrought |