After Accompanying Her On A Mountain Excursion

Composed 1802.--Published 1807

[Town-end 1805.--I. F.]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections." From 1807 to 1832 the title was simply 'Louisa'.--Ed.

I met Louisa in the shade, And, having seen that lovely Maid, Why should I fear to say That, nymph-like, she is fleet and strong, And down the rocks can leap along Like rivulets in May? She loves her fire, her cottage-home; Yet o'er the moorland will she roam In weather rough and bleak; And, when against the wind she strains, Oh! might I kiss the mountain rains That sparkle on her cheek.

Take all that's mine "beneath the moon," [A] If I with her but half a noon May sit beneath the walls Of some old cave, or mossy nook, When up she winds along the brook To hunt the waterfalls.

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