Poems (Cary)/The Shepherdess

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THE SHEPHERDESS.
Sat we on the mossy rocks In the twilight, long ago,I and Ulna keeping flocks— Flocks with fleeces white as snow.Beauty smiled along the sky; Beauty shone along the sea;"Ulna, Ulna," whispered I, This is all for you and me!"
Brushing back my heavy locks, Said he, not, alas! in glee,"Art content in keeping flocks With a shepherd boy like me?"—Shone the moon so softly white Down upon the mossy rocks,Covering sweetly with her light Me and Ulna, and our flocks.
Running wild about our feet Were the blushing summer flowers—"Ulna," said I, "what is sweet In this world that is not ours?" ​Thrice he kissed my cheek, and sighed, These are dreary rocks and cold—Oh, the world is very wide, And I weary of my fold!
Now a thousand oxen stray That are Ulna's, down the moor,And great ships their anchors weigh, Freighted with his priceless ore.But my tears will sometimes flow, Thinking of the mossy rocksWhere we sat, so long ago, I and Ulna, keeping flocks.
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