THE SOLITARY REAPER

Tiger 1 Tiger 1 burning bright
In the forests of the night.
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry ?

WILLIAM BLAKE

THE SOLITARY REAPER
BEHOLD her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass !
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass !
Alone she cuts and binds the grain.
And sings a melancholy strain ; 10
O listen ! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands :
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides. 20
Will no one tell me what she sings ?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago :
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day ?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again ?
10*;