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THREE years she grew in sun and shower; | |
| Then Nature said, “A lovelier flower | |
| On earth was never sown; | |
| This child I to myself will take; | |
| She shall be mine, and I will make | 5 |
| A lady of my own. | |
| |
| “Myself will to my darling be | |
| Both law and impulse; and with me | |
| The girl, in rock and plain, | |
| In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, | 10 |
| Shall feel an overseeing power | |
| To kindle or restrain. | |
| |
| “The floating clouds their state shall lend | |
| To her; for her the willow bend: | |
| Nor shall she fail to see, | 15 |
| Even in the motions of the storm, | |
| Grace that shall mould the maiden’s form | |
| By silent sympathy. | |
| |
| “The stars of midnight shall be dear | |
| To her; and she shall lean her ear | 20 |
| In many a secret place | |
| Where rivulets dance their wayward round; | |
| And beauty, born of murmuring sound, | |
| Shall pass into her face. | |
| |
| “And vital feelings of delight | 25 |
| Shall rear her form to stately height, | |
| Her virgin bosom swell: | |
| Such thoughts to Lucy I will give, | |
| While she and I together live | |
| Here in this happy dell.” | 30 |
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