Would I have made denial of their claims!

Five! six! ten! twenty! But I lost all count

In my great joy. Whence come I knew not; glad

They came to me, who loved them for the sake

Of that dear land at once both theirs and mine.

I ran to get the food I knew they liked,

Remembering how—a child—in frost and snow—

I used to scatter crumbs before the door,

And wheat in harvest gleaned, to feed the birds

Which left us not in winter, but made gay