To A Young Lady

By William Wordsworth

Who had been reproached for taking long walks in the country.

Composed at the same time and on the same view, as I met Louisa in the shade indeed, they were designed to make one piece.

Dear Child of Nature, let them rail!
-- There is a nest in a green dale,
A harbor and a hold;
Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see
Thy own heart-stirring days, and be
A light to young and old.

There, healthy as a shepherd-boy,
And treading among flowers of joy
Which at no season fade,
Thou, while thy babes around thee cling,
Shalt show us how divine a thing
A Woman may be made.

Thy thoughts and feelings shall not die,
Nor leave thee, when grey hairs are nigh,
A melancholy slave;
But an old age serene and bright,
And lovely as a Lapland night,
Shall lead thee to thy grave.

Notes to the poem:

Written in 1805.
First published in 1807.