Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/109

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93

HUMPHREY and WILLIAM.

Time, Noon.

HUMPHREY:See'st thou not William that the scorching SunBy this time half his daily race has run?The savage thrusts his light canoe to shoreAnd hurries homeward with his fishy store.Suppose we leave awhile this stubborn soilTo eat our dinner and to rest from toil!
WILLIAM:Agreed. Yon tree whose purple gum bestowsA ready medicine for the sick-man's woes,Forms with its shadowy boughs a cool retreatTo shield us from the noontide's sultry heat.Ah Humphrey! now upon old England's shoreThe weary labourer's morning work is o'er:The woodman now rests from his measur'd stroke,
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