THREE years she grew in sun and shower; Then Nature said, 'A lovelier flower   On earth was never sown; This child I to myself will take; She shall 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 lean her ear   In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound   Shall pass into her face.

'And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height,   Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give While she and I together live   Here in this happy dell.'

Thus Nature spake—The work was done— How soon my Lucy's race was run!   She died, and left to me This heath, this calm, and quiet scene; The memory of what has been,   And never more will be.