He raised, and never stopped: When down behind the cottage roof, At once, the bright moon dropped. What fond and wayward thoughts will slide 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, 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 Is shining in the sky. She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me! III I travelled 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! 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; And she I cherished turned her wheel Beside an English fire. Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed The bowers where Lucy played; And thine too is the last green field That Lucy's eyes surveyed. V A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees. LYUSI I Kakie tajny znaet strast'! No tol'ko tem iz vas, Kto sam lyubvi izvedal vlast', Doveryu svoj rasskaz. Kogda, kak roza veshnih dnej, Lyubov' moya cvela, YA na svidan'e mchalsya k nej, So mnoj luna plyla. Lunu ya vzglyadom provozhal Po svetlym nebesam. A kon' moj veselo bezhal - On znal dorogu sam. Vot nakonec fruktovyj sad, Vzbegayushchij na sklon. Znakomyj kryshi gladkij skat Lunoyu ozaren. Ohvachen sladkoj vlast'yu sna, Ne slyshal ya kopyt I tol'ko videl, chto luna Na hizhine stoit, Kopyto za kopytom, kon' Po sklonu vverh stupal. No vdrug luny pogas ogon', Za krysheyu propal. Toska mne serdce oblegla, CHut' tol'ko svet pogas. "CHto, esli Lyusi umerla?" - Skazal ya v pervyj raz. II Sredi nehozhenyh dorog, Gde klyuch studenyj bil, Ee uznat' nikto ne mog I malo kto lyubil. Fialka pryatalas' v lesah, Pod kamnem chut' vidna. Zvezda mercala v nebesah Odna, vsegda odna. Ne opechalit nikogo, CHto Lyusi bol'she net, No Lyusi net - i ottogo Tak izmenilsya svet. III K chuzhim, v dalekie kraya Zabroshennyj sud'boj, Ne znal ya, rodina moya, Kak svyazan ya s toboj. Teper' ochnulsya ya ot sna I ne pokinu vnov' Tebya, rodnaya storona - Poslednyaya lyubov'. V tvoih gorah yutilsya dom. Tam devushka zhila. Pered rodimym ochagom Tvoj len ona pryala. Tvoj den' laskal, tvoj mrak skryval Ee zelenyj sad. I po tvoim holmam bluzhdal Ee proshchal'nyj vzglyad. V Zabyvshis', dumal ya vo sne, CHto u begushchih let Nad toj, kto vseh dorozhe mne, Otnyne vlasti net. Ej v kolybeli grobovoj Voveki suzhdeno S gorami, morem i travoj Vrashchat'sya zaodno. LUCY GRAY, OR SOLITUDE Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray: And, when I crossed the wild, I chanced to see at break of day The solitary child. No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; She dwelt on a wide moor, - The sweetest thing that ever grew Beside a human door! You yet may spy the fawn at play, The hare upon the green; But the sweet face of Lucy Gray Will never more be seen. "To-night will be a stormy night - You to the town must go; And take a lantern, Child, to light Your mother through the snow." "That, Father! will I gladly do: 'Tis scarcely afternoon - The minster-clock has just struck two, And yonder is the moon!" At this the Father raised his hook, And snapped a faggot-band; He plied his work;-and Lucy took The lantern in her hand. Not blither is the mountain roe: With many a wanton stroke Her feet disperse the powdery snow, That rises up like smoke. The storm came on before its time: She wandered up and down; And many a hill did Lucy climb: But never reached the town. The wretched parents all that night Went shouting far and wide; But there was neither sound nor sight To serve them for a guide. At day-break on a hill they stood That overlooked the moor; And thence they saw the bridge of wood, A furlong from their door. They wept-and, turning homeward, cried, "In heaven we all shall meet;" - When in the snow the mother spied The print of Lucy's feet. Then downwards from the steep hill's edge They tracked the footmarks small; And through the broken hawthorn hedge, And by the long stone-wall; And then an open field they crossed: The marks were still the same; They tracked them on, nor ever lost; And to the bridge they came. They followed from the snowy bank Those footmarks, one by one, Into the middle of the plank; And further there were none! - Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living child; That you may see sweet Lucy Gray Upon the lonesome wild. O'er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; And sings a solitary song That whistles in the wind. LYUSI GREJ Ne raz ya videl Lyusi Grej V zadumchivoj glushi, Gde tol'ko shorohi vetvej, I znoj, i ni dushi. Nikto ej drugom byt' ne mog Sredi gluhih bolot. Nikto ne znal, kakoj cvetok V lesnom krayu rastet. V lesu vstrechayu ya drozda I zajca na lugu, No miloj Lyusi nikogda YA vstretit' ne smogu. - |j, Lyusi, gde-to nasha mat', Ne sbilas' by s puti. Voz'mi fonar', stupaj vstrechat', Stemneet - posveti. - Otec, ya spravlyus' dotemna, Vsego-to tri chasa. Eshche edva-edva luna Vzoshla na nebesa. - Idi, da tol'ko ne zabud', My k nochi buryu zhdem. - I Lyusi smelo vyshla v put' So starym fonarem. Strojna, provorna i legka, Kak kozochka v gorah, Ona udarom bashmaka Vzmetala snezhnyj prah. Potom spustilsya polog t'my, Zavylo, zamelo. Vzbiralas' Lyusi na holmy, No ne prishla v selo. Naprasno zval otec-starik. Iz temnoty v otvet Ne doletal ni plach, ni krik I ne mayachil svet. A poutru s nemoj toskoj Smotreli stariki Na most, chernevshij nad rekoj, Na vetly u reki. Otec promolvil: - Ot bedy Ni stavnej, ni zamkov. - I vdrug zametil on sledy Znakomyh bashmakov. Sledy vedut na kosogor, Otchetlivo vidny, CHerez prolomannyj zabor I dal'she vdol' steny. Otec i mat' speshat vpered. Do poyasa v snegu. Sledy idut, idut - i vot Oni na beregu. Na svayah ledyanoj narost, Voda stremit svoj beg. Sledy peresekayut most... A dal'she chistyj sneg. No do sih por peredayut, CHto Lyusi Grej zhiva, CHto i teper' ee priyut - Lesnye ostrova. Ona bolotom i leskom Petlyaet naugad, Poet pechal'nym goloskom I ne glyadit nazad. THE BROTHERS "These Tourists, heaven preserve us! needs must live A profitable life: some glance along, Rapid and gay, as if the earth were air, And they were butterflies to wheel about Long as the summer lasted: some, as wise, Perched on the forehead of a jutting crag, Pencil in hand and book upon the knee, Will look and scribble, scribble on and look, Until a man might travel twelve stout miles, Or reap an acre of his neighbour's corn. But, for that moping Son of Idleness, Why, can he tarry yonder? - In our church yard Is neither epitaph nor monument, Tombstone nor name-only the turf we tread And a few natural graves." To Jane, his wife, Thus spake the homely Priest of Ennerdale. It was a July evening; and he sate Upon the long stone-seat beneath the eaves Of his old cottage, - as it chanced, that day, Employed in winter's work. Upon the stone His wife sate near him, teasing matted wool, While, from the twin cards toothed with glittering wire, He fed the spindle of his youngest child, Who, in the open air, with due accord Of busy hands and back-and-forward steps, Her large round wheel was turning. Towards the field In which the Parish Chapel stood alone, Girt round with a bare ring of mossy wall, While half an hour went by, the Priest had sent Many a long look of wonder: and at last, Risen from his seat, beside the snow-white ridge Of carded wool which the old man had piled He laid his implements with gentle care, Each in the other locked; and, down the path That from his cottage to the churchyard led, He took his way, impatient to accost The Stranger, whom he saw still lingering there. 'Twas one well known to him in former days, A Shepherd-lad; who ere his sixteenth year Had left that calling, tempted to entrust His expectations to the fickle winds And perilous waters; with the mariners A fellow-mariner; - and so had fared Through twenty seasons; but he had been reared Among the mountains, and he in his heart Was half a shepherd on the stormy seas. Oft in the piping shrouds had Leonard heard The tones of waterfalls, and inland sounds Of caves and trees: - and, when the regular wind Between the tropics filled the steady sail, And blew with the same breath through days and weeks, Lengthening invisibly its weary line Along the cloudless Main, he, in those hours Of tiresome indolence, would often hang Over the vessel's side, and gaze and gaze; And, while the broad blue wave and sparkling foam Flashed round him images and hues that wrought In union with the employment of his heart, He, thus by feverish passion overcome, Even with the organs of his bodily eye, Below him, in the bosom of the deep, Saw mountains; saw the forms of sheep that grazed On verdant hills-with dwellings among trees, And shepherds clad in the same country grey Which he himself had worn. And now, at last, From perils manifold, with some small wealth Acquired by traffic 'mid the Indian Isles, To his paternal home he is returned, With a determined purpose to resume The life he had lived there; both for the sake Of many darling pleasures, and the love Which to an only brother he has borne In all his hardships, since that happy time When, whether it blew foul or fair, they two Were brother-shepherds on their native hills. - They were the last of all their race: and now, When Leonard had approached his home, his heart Failed in him; and, not venturing to enquire Tidings of one so long and dearly loved, He to the solitary churchyard turned; That, as he knew in what particular spot His family were laid, he thence might learn If still his Brother lived, or to the file Another grave was added. - He had found , Another grave, - near which a full half-hour He had remained; but, as he gazed, there grew Such a confusion in his memory, That he began to doubt; and even to hope That he had seen this heap of turf before, - That it was not another grave; but one He had forgotten. He had lost his path, As up the vale, that afternoon, he walked Through fields which once bad been well known to him: And oh what joy this recollection now Sent to his heart! he lifted up his eyes, And, looking round, imagined that he saw Strange alteration wrought on every side Among the woods and fields, and that the rocks, And everlasting hills themselves were changed. By this the Priest, who down the field had come, Unseen by Leonard, at the churchyard gate Stopped short, - and thence, at leisure, limb by limb Perused him with a gay complacency. Ay, thought the Vicar, smiling to himself, Tis one of those who needs must leave the path Of the world's business to go wild alone: His arms have a perpetual holiday; The happy man will creep about the fields, Following his fancies by the hour, to bring Tears down his cheek, or solitary smiles Into his face, until the setting sun Write fool upon his forehead. - Planted thus Beneath a shed that over-arched the gate Of this rude churchyard, till the stars appeared The good Man might have communed with himself, But that the Stranger, who had left the grave, Approached; he recognised the Priest at once, And, after greetings interchanged, and given By Leonard to the Vicar as to one Unknown to him, this dialogue ensued. Leonard. You live, Sir, in these dales, a quiet life: Your years make up one peaceful family; And who would grieve and fret, if, welcome come And welcome gone, they are so like each other, They cannot be remembered? Scarce a funeral Comes to mis churchyard once in eighteen months; And yet, some changes must take place among you: And you, who dwell here, even among these rocks, Can trace the finger of mortality, And see, that with our threescore years and ten We are not all that perish. - - I remember, (For many years ago I passed this road) There was a foot-way all along the fields By the brook-side - 'tis gone - and that dark cleft! To me it does not seem to wear the face Which then it had! Priest. Nay, Sir, for aught I know, That chasm is much the same - Leonard. But, surely, yonder - Priest. Ay, there, indeed, your memory is a friend That does not play you false. - On that tall pike (It is the loneliest place of all these hills) There were two springs which bubbled side by side, As if they had been made that they might be Companions for each other: the huge crag Was rent with lightning-one hath disappeared; The other, left behind, is flowing still. For accidents aud changes such as these, We want not store of them; - a water-spout Will bring down half a mountain; what a feast For folks that wander up and down like you, To see an acre's breadth of that wide cliff One roaring cataract! a sharp May-storm Will come with loads of January snow, And in one night send twenty score of sheep To feed the ravens; or a shepherd dies By some untoward death among the rocks: The ice breaks up and sweeps away a bridge; A wood is felled:-and then for our own homes! A child is born or christened, a field ploughed, A daughter sent to service, a web spun, The old house-clock is decked with a new face; And hence, so far from wanting facts or dates To chronicle the time, we all have here A pair of diaries, - one serving, Sir, For the whole dale, and one for each fire-side - Yours was a stranger's judgment: for historians, Commend me to these valleys! Leonard. Yet your Churchyard Seems, if such freedom may be used with you, To say that you are heedless of the past: An orphan could not find his mother's grave: Here's neither head-nor foot stone, plate of brass, Cross-bones nor skull, - type of our earthly state Nor emblem of our hopes: the dead man's home Is but a fellow to that pasture-field. Priest. Why, there, Sir, is a thought that's new to me! The stone-cutters, 'tis true, might beg their bread If every English churchyard were like ours; Yet your conclusion wanders from the truth: We have no need of names and epitaphs; We talk about the dead by our firesides. And then, for our immortal part! we want No symbols, Sir, to tell us that plain tale: The thought of death sits easy on the man Who has been bom and dies among the mountains. Leonard. Your Dalesmen, then, do in each other's thoughts Possess a kind of second life: no doubt You, Sir, could help me to the history Of half these graves? Priest. For eight-score winters past, With what I've witnessed, and with what I've heard, Perhaps I might; and, on a winter-evening, If you were seated at my chimney's nook, By turning o'er these hillocks one by one, We two could travel, Sir, through a strange round; Yet all in the broad highway of the world. Now there's a grave - your foot is half upon it, - It looks just like the rest; and yet that man Died broken-hearted. Leonard. 'Tis a common case. We'll take another: who is he that lies Beneath yon ridge, the last of those three graves? It touches on that piece of native rock Left in the churchyard wall. Priest. That's Walter Ewbank. He had as white a head and fresh a cheek As ever were produced by youth and age Engendering in the blood of hale fourscore. Through five long generations had the heart Of Walter's forefathers o'erflowed the bounds Of their inheritance, that single cottage- You see it yonder! and those few green fields. They toiled and wrought, and still, from sire to son, Each struggled, and each yielded as before A little - yet a little, - and old Walter, They left to him the family heart, and land With other burthens than the crop it bore. Year after year the old man still kept up A cheerful mind, - and buffeted with bond, Interest, and mortgages; at last he sank, And went into his grave before his time. Poor Walter! whether it was care that spurred him God only knows, but to the very last He had the lightest foot in Ennerdale: His pace was never that of an old man: I almost see him tripping down the path With his two grandsons after him: - but you, Unless our Landlord be your host tonight, Have far to travel, - and on these rough paths Even in the longest day of midsummer - Leonard. But those two Orphans! Priest. Orphans! - Such they were - Yet not while Walter lived: for, though their parents Lay buried side by side as now they lie, The old man was a father to the boys, Two fathers in one father: and if tears, Shed when he talked of them where they were not, And hauntings from the infirmity of love, Are aught of what makes up a mother's heart, This old Man, in the day of his old age, Was half a mother to them. - If you weep, Sir, To hear a stranger talking about strangers, Heaven bless you when you are among your kindred! Ay - you may turn that way - it is a grave Which will bear looking at. Leonard. These boys - I hope They loved this good old Man? - Priest. They did - and truly: But that was what we almost overlooked, They were such darlings of each other. Yes, Though from the cradle they had lived with Walter, The only kinsman near them, and though he Inclined to both by reason of his age, With a more fond, familiar, tenderness; They, notwithstanding, had much love to spare, And it all went into each other's hearts. Leonard, the elder by just eighteen months, Was two years taller: 'twas a joy to see, To hear, to meet them! - From their house the school Is distant three short miles, and in the time Of storm and thaw, when every watercourse And unbridged stream, such as you may have noticed Crossing our roads at every hundred steps, Was swoln into a noisy rivulet, Would Leonard then, when elder boys remained At home, go staggering through the slippery fords, Bearing his brother on his back. I have seen him, On windy days, in one of those stray brooks, Ay, more than once I have seen him, mid-leg deep, Their two books lying both on a dry stone, Upon the hither side: and once I said, As I remember, looking round these rocks And hills on which we all of us were born, That God who made the great book of the world Would bless such piety - Leonard. It may be then - Priest. Never did worthier lads break English bread: The very brightest Sunday Autumn saw With all its mealy clusters of ripe nuts, Could never keep those boys away from church, Or tempt them to an hour of sabbath breach. Leonard and James! I warrant, every corner Among these rocks, and every hollow place That venturous foot could reach, to one or both Was known as well as to the flowers that grow there. Like roe-bucks they went bounding o'er the hills; They played like two young ravens on the crags: Then they could write, ay and speak too, as well As many of their betters-and for Leonard! The very night before he went away, In my own house I put into his hand A Bible, and I'd wager house and field That, if he be alive, he has it yet. Leonard. It seems, these Brothers have not lived to be A comfort to each other - Priest. That they might Live to such end is what both old and young In this our valley all of us have wished, And what, for my part, I have often prayed: But Leonard - Leonard. Then James still is left among you! Priest. 'Tis of the elder brother I am speaking: They had an uncle; - he was at that time A thriving man, and trafficked on the seas: And, but for that same uncle, to this hour Leonard had never handled rope or shroud: For the boy loved the life which we lead here; And though of unripe years, a stripling only, His soul was knit to this his native soil. But, as I said, old Walter was too weak To strive with such a torrent; when he died, The estate and house were sold; and all their sheep, A pretty flock, and which, for aught I know, Had clothed the Ewbanks for a thousand years: - Well - all was gone, and they were destitute, And Leonard, chiefly for his Brother's sake, Resolved to try his fortune on the seas. Twelve years are past since we had tidings from him. If there were one among us who had heard That Leonard Ewbank was come home again, From the Great Gavel, down by Leeza's banks, And down the Enna, far as Egremont, The day would be a joyous festival; And those two bells of ours, which there, you see - Hanging in the open air - but, O good Sir! This is sad talk - they'll never sound for him - Living or dead. - When last we heard of him He was in slavery among the Moors Upon the Barbary coast. - Twas not a little That would bring down his spirit; and no doubt, Before it ended in his death, the Youth Was sadly crossed. - Poor Leonard! when we parted, He took me by the hand, and said to me, If e'er he should grow rich, he would return, To live in peace upon his father's land, And lay his bones among us. Leonarnd. If that day Should come, 'twould needs be a glad day for him; He would himself, no doubt, be happy then As any that should meet him - Priest. Happy! Sir - Leonard. You said his kindred all were in their graves, And that he had one Brother - Priest. That is but A fellow-tale of sorrow. From his youth James, though not sickly, yet was delicate; And Leonard being always by his side Had done so many offices about him, That, though he was not of a timid nature, Yet still the spirit of a mountain-boy In him was somewhat checked, and, when his Brother Was gone to sea, and he was left alone, The little colour that he had was soon Stolen from his cheek; he drooped, and pined, and pined - Leonard. But these are all the graves of full-grown men! Priest. Ay, Sir, that passed away: we took him to us; He was the child of all the dale - he lived Three months with one, and six months with another, And wanted neither food, nor clothes, nor love: And many, many happy days were his. But, whether blithe or sad, 'tis my belief His absent Brother still was at his heart. And, when he dwelt beneath our roof, we found (A practice till this time unknown to him) That often, rising from his bed at night, He in his sleep would walk about, and sleeping He sought his brother Leonard. - You are moved! Forgive me, Sir: before I spoke to you, I judged you most unkindly. Leonard. But this Youth, How did he die at last? Priest. One sweet May-morning, (It will be twelve years since when Springs returns) He had gone forth among the new-dropped lambs, With two or three companions, whom their course Of occupation led from height to height Under a cloudless sun-till he, at length, Through weariness, or, haply, to indulge The humour of the moment, lagged behind. You see yon precipice; - it wears the shape Of a vast building made of many crags; And in the midst is one particular rock That rises like a column from the vale, Whence by our shepherds it is called, THE PILLAR. Upon its aery summit crowned with heath, The loiterer, not unnoticed by his comrades, Lay stretched at ease; but, passing by the place On their return, they found that he was gone. No ill was feared; till one of them by chance Entering, when evening was far spent, the house Which at that time was James's home, there learned That nobody had seen him all that day: The morning came, and still he was unheard of: The neighbours were alarmed, and to the brook Some hastened; some ran to the lake: ere noon They found him at the foot of that same rock Dead, and with mangled limbs. The third day after I buried him, poor Youth, and there he lies! Leonard. And that then is his grave! - Before his death You say that he saw many happy years? Priest. Ay, that he did - Leonard. And all went well with him? - Priest. If he had one, the Youth had twenty homes. Leonard. And you believe, then, that his mind was easy? - Priest. Yes, long before he died, he found that time Is a true friend to sorrow; and unless His thoughts were turned on Leonard's luckless fortune, He talked about him with a cheerful love. Leonard. He could not come to an unhallowed end! Priest. Nay, God forbid! - You recollect I mentioned A habit which disquietude and grief Had brought upon him; and we all conjectured That, as the day was warm, he had lain down On the soft heath, - and, waiting for his comrades, He there had fallen asleep; that in his sleep He to the margin of the precipice Had walked, and from the summit had fallen headlong: And so no doubt he perished. When the Youth , Fell, in his hand he must have grasped, we think, His shepherd's staff; for on that Pillar of rock It had been caught mid-way; and there for years It hung; - and mouldered there. The Priest here ended - The Stranger would have thanked him, but he felt A gushing from his heart, that took away The power of speech. Both left the spot in silence; And Leonard, when they reached the churchyard gate, As the Priest lifted up the latch, turned round, - And, looking at the grave, he said, "My Brother!" The Vicar did not hear the words: and now, He pointed towards his dwelling-place, entreating That Leonard would partake his homely fare: The other thanked him with an earnest voice; But added, that, the evening being calm, He would pursue his journey. So they parted. It was not long ere Leonard reached a grove That overhung the road: he there stopped short And, sitting down beneath the trees, reviewed All that the Priest had said: his early years Were with him: - his long absence, cherished hopes, And thoughts which had been his an hour before, All pressed on him with such a weight, that now, This vale, where he had been so happy, seemed A place in which he could not bear to live: So he relinquished all his purposes. He travelled back to Egremont: and thence, That night, he wrote a letter to the Priest, Reminding him of what had passed between them; And adding, with a hope to be forgiven, That it was from the weakness of his heart He had not dared to tell him who he was. This done, he went on shipboard, and is now A Seaman, a grey-headed Mariner. BRATXYA "Turistam etim, Gospodi prosti, Dolzhno byt', horosho zhivetsya: brodyat Bez dela den'-den'skoj - i gorya malo, Kak budto i zemli pod nimi net, A tol'ko vozduh, i oni porhayut, Kak motyl'ki, vse leto. Na skale