LARA.
124
The tricks of youth, the frolics of the page,
For hours on Lara he would fix his glance,
As all - forgotten in that watchful trance;
And from his chief withdrawn, he wandered lone,Brief were his answers , and his questions none;His walk the wood, bis sport some foreign hook;His resting-place the banks that curbs the brook:lie seem’d, like him he served, to live apart 55oFrom all that lares the eye, and fills the heart;To know no brotherhood, and take from earthNo gift beyond that bitter boon — our birth.
XXVII.
If aught he lov’d, 'twas Lara; but was shownHis faith in reverence and in deeds alone;
In mute attention; and his care, which guessedEach wish, fulfilled it ere the tongue expressed.Still there was haughtiness in nil he did,
A spirit deep that brook'd not to be chid; 559His zeal, though more than that of servile bands.In act alone obeys, bis air commands:
As if 'twas Lara’s less than his desireThat thus he served, hut surely not for hire.Slight were the tasks enjoined him by his lord,To hold the stirrup, or to bear the sword;