Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 1: IX - To the River Duddon

IX - To the River Duddon

  O mountain Stream! the Shepherd and his Cot
  Are privileg'd Inmates of deep solitude:
  Nor would the nicest Anchorite exclude
  A Field or two of brighter green, or Plot
  Of tillage-ground, that seemeth like a spot
  Of stationary sunshine: thou hast view'd
  These only, Duddon! with their paths renew'd
  By fits and starts, yet this contents thee not.
  Thee hath some awful Spirit impell'd to leave,
  Utterly to desert, the haunts of men,
  Though simple thy Companions were and few;
  And through this wilderness a passage cleave
  Attended but by thy own Voice, save when
  The Clouds and Fowls of the air thy way pursue.

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