GEORGE CRABBE (1754-1832) FROM TALES TALE X-THE LOVER'S JOURNEY On either side Is level fen, a prospect wild and wide, With dikes on either hand by ocean's self supplied: Far on the right the distant sea is seen, Beneath an ancient bridge the straitened flood Impure in all its course, in all its progress slow: Here a grave Flora scarcely deigns to bloom, Nor wears a rosy blush, nor sheds perfume: The few dull flowers that o'er the place are spread Trained but yet savage, in her speaking face The vice implanted in her youthful breast: On ragged rug, just borrowed from the bed, Of vigour palsied and of beauty stained; 171 Cursing his tardy aid her mother there With gipsy-state engrossed the only chair; Solemn and dull her look; with such she stands, And reads the milk-maid's fortune in her hands, Tracing the lines of life; assumed through years, Each feature now the steady falsehood wears; With hard and savage eye she views the food, And grudging pinches their intruding brood; Last in the group, the worn-out grandsire |