Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 1: Louisa

Louisa

  I met Louisa in the shade;
  And, having seen that lovely Maid,
  Why should I fear to say
  That she is ruddy, fleet, and strong;
  And down the rocks can leap along,
  Like rivulets in May?
  And she hath smiles to earth unknown;
  Smiles, that with motion of their own
  Do spread, and sink, and rise;
  That come and go with endless play,                      10
  And ever, as they pass away,
  Are hidden in her eyes.
  She loves her fire, her Cottage-home;
  Yet o'er the moorland will she roam
  In weather rough and bleak;
  And when against the wind she strains,
  Oh! might I kiss the mountain rains
  That sparkle on her cheek.
  Take all that's mine 'beneath the moon',
  If I with her but half a noon                            20
  May sit beneath the walls
  Of some old cave, or mossy nook,
  When up she winds along the brook,
  To hunt the waterfalls.

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