The River Duddon: V

— by William Wordsworth

Sole listener, Duddon! to the breeze that played With thy clear voice, I caught the fitful sound Wafted o’er sullen moss and craggy mound-- Unfruitful solitudes, that seemed to upbraid The sun in heaven!--but now, to form a shade For Thee, green alders have together wound Their foliage; ashes flung their arms around; And birch-trees risen in silver colonnade. And thou hast also tempted here to rise, ’Mid sheltering pines, this Cottage rude and gray; Whose ruddy children, by the mother’s eyes Carelessly watched, sport through the summer day, Thy pleased Associates:--light as endless May On infant bosoms lonely Nature lies.