Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/190

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

182




II.


To JOANNA.


Amid the smoke of cities did you pass
Your time of early youth, and there you learn'd,
From years of quiet industry, to love
The living Beings by your own fire-side,
With such a strong devotion, that your heart
Is slow towards the sympathies of them
Who look upon the hills with tenderness,
And make dear friendships with the streams and groves.
Yet we who are transgressors in this kind,
Dwelling retired in our simplicity
Among the woods and fields, we love you well,

Joanna! and I guess, since you have been