Page:Peter Bell (Wordsworth).djvu/39

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Part I.
PETER BELL.
23

His face was keen as is the wind
That cuts along the hawthorn fence;
Of courage you saw little there,
But, in its stead, a medley air
Of cunning and of impudence.

He had a dark and sidelong walk,
And long and slouching was his gait;
Beneath his looks so bare and bold,
You might perceive, his spirit cold
Was playing with some inward bait.

His forehead wrinkled was and furr'd;
A work one half of which was done
By thinking of his whens and hows;
And half by knitting of his brows
Beneath the glaring sun.