_1st Child_. Will you want it, then?
Please want it--we like nailing.
_2d Child_. Yes, we do.
_J_. It seems I ought to want it: hold the bough,
And each may nail in turn.
[_Sings._]
Like a daisy I was, near him growing:
Must I move because favors flag,
And be like a brown wall-flower blowing
Far out of reach in a crag?
Lift! O lift, thou lowering sky;
An thou canst, thy blue regain!
An thou canst not, he and I
Need not part for drops of rain.
_1st Child_. Now, have we nailed enough?
_J. [trains the creepers_] Yes, you may go;
But do not play too near the churchyard path.
_M. [within_] Even misfortune does not strike so near
As my dependence. O, in youth and strength
To sit a timid coward in the dark,
And feel before I set a cautious step!
It is so very dark, so far more dark
Than any night that day comes after--night
In which there would be stars, or else at least
The silvered portion of a sombre cloud
Through which the moon is plunging.
_J. [entering]_ Merton!
_M_. Yes
_J_. Dear Merton, did you know that I could hear?
_M_. No: e'en my solitude is not mine now,
And if I be alone is ofttimes doubt.
Alas! far more than eyesight have I lost;
For manly courage drifteth after it--
E'en as a splintered spar would drift away
From some dismasted wreck.
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