No human dwelling ever give me food,
Or sleep, or rest: but, over waste and wild,
In search of nothing, that this earth can give,
But expiation, will I wander on —

A man by pain and thought compelled to live,
Yet loathing life-till anger is appeased
In Heaven, and Mercy gives me leave to die.

1795-6.

POEMS REFERRING TO THE PERIOD

OF CHILDHOOD.

I.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky :

So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die

The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

II.

TO A BUTTERFLY.

STAY near me; do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!

Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!

Float near me; do not yet depart!

1804.

Dead times revive in thee:

Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,

My father's family!

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,

The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I

Together chased the butterfly!

A very hunter did I rush

Upon the prey:- with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;

But she, God love her! feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.

III.

THE SPARROW'S NEST.

BEHOLD, within the leafy shade,
Those bright blue eggs together laid!
On me the chance-discovered sight
Gleamed like a vision of delight

I started, — seeming to espy
The home and sheltered bed,

The Sparrow's dwelling, which, hard by

My Father's house, in wet or dry,

My sister Emmeline and I

Together visited.

1801.

She looked at it and seemed to fear it;
Dreading, tho' wishing, to be near it :
Such heart was in her, being then
A little Prattler among men.
The Blessing of my later years
Was with me when a boy :

She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble cares, and delicate fears;
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
And love, and thought, and joy.

IV.

FORESIGHT.

THAT is work of waste and ruin —
Do as Charles and I are doing!
Strawberry-blossoms, one and all,

We must spare them here are many:
Look at it the flower is small,

Small and low, though fair as any:
Do not touch it! summers two

I am older, Anne, than you.

Pull the primrose, sister Anne!

Pull as many as you can.

- Here are daisies, take

your

fill;

Pansies, and the cuckoo-flower:

1801.

Of the lofty daffodil

Make your bed, or make your bower;
Fill your lap, and fill your bosom;
Only spare the strawberry-blossom!

Primroses, the Spring may love them,
Summer knows but little of them;
Violets, a barren kind,

Withered on the ground must lie;

Daisies leave no fruit behind
When the pretty flowerets die;
Pluck them, and another year
As many will be blowing here.

God has given a kindlier power
To the favored strawberry-flower.
Hither soon as Spring is fled
You and Charles and I will walk ;

Lurking berries, ripe and red,

Then will hang on every stalk,

Each within its leafy bower;

And for that promise spare the flower!

1802.

V.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHILD THREE YEARS OLD.

LOVING she is, and tractable, though wild;
And Innocence hath privilege in her