Still memory to a gray-haired man He lives to learn, in life's hard school, How few who pass above him Lament their triumph and his loss, Like her, because they love him. 20 WE ARE SEVEN WILLIAM WORDSWORTH -A simple child, That lightly draws its breath, I met a little cottage girl: She was eight years old, she said; She had a rustic, woodland air, And she was wildly clad: Her eyes were fair, and very fair; "Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?" "How many? Seven in all," she said, And wondering looked at me. "And where are they? I pray you tell." And two of us at Conway dwell, "Two of us in the church-yard lie, "You say that two at Conway dwell, Yet ye are seven!—I pray you tell, Then did the little maid reply, "You run about, my little maid, Your limbs they are alive; If two are in the church-yard laid, Then ye are only five." "Their graves are green, they may be seen," The little maid replied, "Twelve steps or more from my mother's door, And they are side by side. "My stockings there I often knit, My kerchief there I hem; And there upon the ground I sit, And sing a song to them. "And often after sunset, sir, When it is light and fair, "The first that died was sister Jane; In bed she moaning lay, Till God released her of her pain; "So in the church-yard she was laid; "And when the ground was white with snow, And I could run and slide, My brother John was forced to go, And he lies by her side." "How many are you, then," said I, "But they are dead; those two are dead! Their spirits are in heaven!" 'Twas throwing words away; for still The little maid would have her will, And said, "Nay, we are seven!" 21 THE INCHCAPE ROCK1 ROBERT SOUTHEY No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, The ship was still as she could be; Without either sign or sound of their shock, The Abbot of Aberbrothok Had placed that Bell on the Inchcape Rock; When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell, The Sun in heaven was shining gay; All things were joyful on that day; The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round, The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen, A darker speck on the ocean green: 1. Inchcape Rock. A reef just off the coast of Scotland, near the Firth of Tay. He felt the cheering power of spring; It made him whistle, it made him sing: His eye was on the Inchcape float: The boat is lowered, the boatmen row, Sir Ralph bent over from the boat, And he cut the Bell from the Inchcape float. Down sunk the Bell with a gurgling sound; The bubbles rose and burst around: Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the Rock Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok." Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away; He scoured the seas for many a day; And now, grown rich with plundered store, He steers his course for Scotland's shore. So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky, On the deck the Rover takes his stand; |