Page:Poems Sherwin.djvu/73

A woodman he, and with the sun,
Each morn his daily task begun.
Though hard he toiled, and hard he fared,
Contentment with his work he shared,
And happy seemed if he could see
His parent from all sorrow free.
The village maids, as he passed by,
Would greet him with a smiling eye;
But one more favoured than the rest
Had raised a flame in Collin's breast.
A fair-haired damsel, Norah White,
The daughter of a neighbouring wright.

 Oft when the day's harsh toils were o'er,
And Collin homeward crossed the moor,
He'd linger by the shady pool,
Or near the little village school,
The timorous Norah White to greet,
Who wandered there the youth to meet.

 Their's was the bliss, which only love
Joined with pure innocence, can prove;
For neither had a thought of wrong,
And Collin warmly hoped e'er long
To prove the joys of wedded life
By making Norah White his wife.
He thought himself a happy wight
Although he toiled from morn till night.
Quite satisfied, and very meek,—
He earned twelve shillings every week,
And this, he thought, would keep a wife
With all the requisites of life.
Contented soul!* * * *