He by appointment waited for me here,

Under the covert[13] of these clustering elms.

We were tried Friends: amid a pleasant vale,

In the antique market-village where was passed

My school-time,[W1] an apartment he had owned,

To which at intervals the Wanderer drew,[14]

And found a kind of home or harbour there.

He loved me; from a swarm of rosy boys

Singled out me, as he in sport would say,

For my grave looks, too thoughtful for my years.