Fair scenes, erewhile, I taught, a happy child, The echoes of your rocks my carols wild: The spirit sought not then, in cherished sadness, 15 A cloudy substitute for failing gladness. [3] In youth's keen [4] eye the livelong day was bright, The sun at morning, and the stars at night, Alike, when first the bittern's hollow bill Was heard, or woodcocks [D] roamed the moonlight hill. [5] 20 In thoughtless gaiety I coursed the plain, [6] And hope itself was all I knew of pain; For then, the inexperienced heart would beat [7] At times, while young Content forsook her seat, And wild Impatience, pointing upward, showed, 25 Through passes yet unreached, a brighter road. [8] Alas! the idle tale of man is found Depicted in the dial's moral round; Hope with reflection blends her social rays [9] To gild the total tablet of his days; 30 Yet still, the sport of some malignant power, He knows but from its shade the present hour. [10] But why, ungrateful, dwell on idle pain? To show what pleasures yet to me remain, [11] Say, will my Friend, with unreluctant ear, [12] 35 The history of a poet's evening hear? When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still, Breathed a pale steam around the glaring hill, And shades of deep-embattled clouds were seen, 40 Spotting the northern cliffs with lights between; When crowding cattle, checked by rails that make A fence far stretched into the shallow lake, Lashed the cool water with their restless tails, Or from high points of rock looked out for fanning gales;[13] 45 When school-boys stretched their length upon the green; And round the broad-spread oak, a glimmering scene, In the rough fern-clad park, the herded deer [14] Shook the still-twinkling tail and glancing ear; When horses in the sunburnt intake [E] stood, 50 And vainly eyed below the tempting flood, Or tracked the passenger, in mute distress, With forward neck the closing gate to press--[15] Then, while I wandered where the huddling rill Brightens with water-breaks the hollow ghyll [F] [16] 55 As by enchantment, an obscure retreat [17] Opened at once, and stayed my devious feet. While thick above the rill the branches close, In rocky basin its wild waves repose, Inverted shrubs, [G] and moss of gloomy green, 60 Cling from the rocks, with pale wood-weeds between; And its own twilight softens the whole scene, [H] Save where aloft the subtle sunbeams shine On withered briars that o'er the crags recline; [18] Save where, with sparkling foam, a small cascade, 65 Illumines, from within, the leafy shade; [19] Beyond, along the vista of the brook, Where antique roots its bustling course [20] o'erlook, The eye reposes on a secret bridge [J]