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I STRANGE fits of passion have I known: And I will dare to tell, But in the lover�s ear alone, What once to me befell. When she I loved look�d every day 5 Fresh as a rose in June, I to her cottage bent my way, Beneath an evening moon. Upon the moon I fix�d my eye, All over the wide lea; 10 With quickening pace my horse drew nigh Those paths so dear to me. And now we reach�d the orchard-plot; And, as we climb�d the hill, The sinking moon to Lucy�s cot 15 Came near and nearer still. In one of those sweet dreams I slept, Kind Nature�s gentlest boon! And all the while my eyes I kept On the descending moon. 20 My horse moved on; hoof after hoof He raised, and never stopp�d: When down behind the cottage roof, At once, the bright moon dropp�d. What fond and wayward thoughts will slide 25 Into a lover�s head! �O mercy!� to myself I cried, �If Lucy should be dead!� - II She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove; 30 A maid whom there were none to praise, And very few to love. A violet by a mossy stone Half-hidden from the eye! �Fair as a star, when only one 35 Is shining in the sky. She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, O! The difference to me! 40 - III I travell�d among unknown men In lands beyond the sea; Nor, England! did I know till then What love I bore to thee. �Tis past, that melancholy dream! 45 Nor will I quit thy shore A second time, for still I seem To love thee more and more. Among thy mountains did I feel The joy of my desire; 50 And she I cherish�d turn�d her wheel Beside an English fire. Thy mornings show�d, thy nights conceal�d The bowers where Lucy play�d; And thine too is the last green field 55 That Lucy�s eyes survey�d. - IV 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; 60 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, 65 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 70 Or up the mountain springs; And her�s shall be the breathing balm, And her�s the silence and the calm Of mute insensate things. �The floating clouds their state shall lend 75 To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see E�en in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden�s form By silent sympathy. 80 �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 85 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 90 Where 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 95 This heath, this calm and quiet scene; The memory of what has been, And never more will be. - V A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: 100 She seem�d a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Roll�d round in earth�s diurnal course 105 With rocks, and stones, and trees.