What will be left to us!-But, I forget Bestir them in good deeds. Now, fare thee well— "Twill be between us- But whatever fate Befall thee, I shall love thee to the last, And bear thy memory with me to the grave." The Shepherd ended here: and Luke stooped down, And, as his Father had requested, laid The first stone of the Sheep-fold. At the sight The Old Man's grief broke from him, to his heart He pressed his Son, he kissed him and wept ; And to the House together they returned. Next morning, as had been resolved, the Boy A good report did from their Kinsman come, The prettiest letters that were ever seen. The Shepherd went about his daily work With confident and cheerful thoughts; and now He to that valley took his way, and there There is a comfort in the strength of love; I have conversed with more than one who well He went, and still looked up upon the sun, And listened to the wind; and as before Performed all kinds of labour for his Sheep, And to that hollow Dell from time to time There, by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was he seen Sitting alone, with that his faithful Dog, Then old, beside him, lying at his feet. The length of full seven years from time to time He at the building of this Sheep-fold wrought, And left the work unfinished when he died. Three years, or little more, did Isabel Survive her Husband: at her death the estate Was sold, and went into a Stranger's hand. On which it stood; great changes have been wrought Beside the boisterous brook of Green-head Gill. |