Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/203

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195




V.


To M. H.


Our walk was far among the ancient trees:
There was no road, nor any wood-man's path,
But the thick umbrage, checking the wild growth
Of weed and sapling, on the soft green turf
Beneath the branches of itself had made
A track which brought us to a slip of lawn,
And a small bed of water in the woods.
All round this pool both flocks and herds might drink
On its firm margin, even as from a well
Or some stone-bason which the Herdsman's hand

Had shap'd for their refreshment, nor did sun