THREE years she grew in sun and shower. 

 When Nature said, "A lovelier flower 



On earth was never sown: 

 This child I to myself will take: 

 She will be mine, and I will make 



A lady of my own. 



"Myself will to my darling be, 

 Both law and impulse; And with me 



The girl, in rock and plain, 

 In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, 

 Shall feel an overseeing power, 



To kindle or restrain. 



"She shall be sportive as the fawn 

 That wild with glee across the lawn, 



Or up the mountain springs. 

 And hers shall be the breathing balm, 

 And hers the silence and the calm 



Of mute, insensate things. 



"The floating clouds their state shall lend 

 To her: For her the willow bend; 



Nor shall she fail to see 

 Even in the motions of the storm 

 Grace that shall mould the maiden s form 



By silent sympathy. 



"The stars of midnight shall be dear 

 To her: And she shall lend her ear 



In many a secret place 

 Where rivulets dance their wayward round, 

 And beauty born of murmuring sound 



Shall pass into her face." 



— Wordsworth. 



