What is the highland girl doing ?

or:What is the highland girl doing ?or:To the Highland Girl of Inversnaid.Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower\t Of beauty is thy earthly dower!\t Twic

or:What is the highland girl doing ?

or:To the Highland Girl of Inversnaid.Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower\t Of beauty is thy earthly dower!\t Twice seven consenting years have shed\t Their utmost bounty on thy head:\t And these gray rocks, this household lawn,These trees - a veil just half withdrawn;\t This fall of water, that doth make\t A murmur near the silent lake;\t This little bay, a quiet road\t That holds in shelter thy abode;In truth together ye do seem\t Like something fashion'd in a dream\t Such forms as from their covert peep\t When earthly cares are laid asleep!\t But, O fair Creature! in the light\t Of common day, so heavenly bright,\t I bless Thee, Vision as thou art,\t I bless thee with a human heart:\t God shield thee to thy latest years!\t I neither know thee nor thy peers,\tAnd yet my eyes are fill'd with tears.\t With earnest feeling I shall pray\t For thee when I am far away;\t For never saw I mien or face\t In which more plainly I could trace\tBenignity and home-bred sense\t Ripening in perfect innocence.\t Here scatter'd, like a random seed,\t Remote from men, thou dost not need\t The embarrass'd look of shy distress,And maidenly shamefacedness.\t Thou wear'st upon thy forehead clear\t The freedom of a mountaineer;\t A face with gladness overspread;\t Soft smiles, by human kindness bred;And seemliness complete, that sways\t Thy courtesies, about thee plays;\t With no restraint, but such as springs\t From quick and eager visitings\t Of thoughts that lie beyond the reachOf thy few words of English speech\t A bondage sweetly brook'd, a strife\t That gives thy gestures grace and life!\t So have I, not unmoved in mind,\t Seen birds of tempest - loving kindThus beating up against the wind.\t What hand but would a garland cull\t For thee, who art so beautiful?\t O happy pleasure! here to dwell\t Beside thee in some heathy dell;Adopt your homely ways, and dress,\t A shepherd, thou a shepherdess!\t But I could frame a wish for thee\t More like a grave reality:\t Thou art to me but as a waveOf the wild sea; and I would have\t Some claim upon thee, if I could,\t Though but of common neighbourhood,\t What joy to hear thee, and to see!\t Thy elder brother I would be,Thy father - anything to thee.\t Now thanks to Heaven! that of its grace\t Hath led me to this lonely place.\t Joy have I had; and going hence\t I bear away my recompense,In spots like these it is we prize\t Our memory, feel that she hath eyes.\t Then why should I be loath to stir?\t I feel this place was made for her;\t To give new pleasure like the past,Continued long as life shall last.\t Nor am I loath, though pleased at heart,\t Sweet Highland Girl! from thee to part;\t For I, methinks, till I grow old\t As fair before me shall beholdAs I do now the cabin small,\t The lake, the bay, the waterfall,\t And thee, the spirit of them all! - William Wordsworth.

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