Page:Poems Mitford.djvu/40

For even then could nature's charm
My young imagination warm,
And landscapes, mountainous and wild,
Had charm'd the visionary child.
For I had heard old ocean roar
And chafe 'gainst Dorset's rocky shore;
Had listen'd to the sea-bird's cries,
Had mark'd the gath'ring tempest rise,
And, fearless 'mid the deaf'ning jar,
Had watch'd the elemental war.

 But chief in some sequester'd cot
I sigh'd to fix my tranquil lot;
Some straw-rooft cot, 'mid southern vales,
And fann'd by Devon's balmy gales;
The white-wash'd walls and lattice clean,
Scarce through the twining jasmine seen;
The little garden's simple bound
With rose and myrtle fenc'd around;