THE FIRST SIGHT OF GREEN FIELDS

Charles Lamb

1816

Lately an equipage I overtook,
And help'd to lift it o'er a narrow brook;
No horse it had, except one boy, who drew
His sister out in it the fields to view.

O happy town-bred girl, in fine chaise going
For the first time to see the green grass growing!
This was the end and purport of the ride,
I learn'd, as walking slowly by their side
I heard their conversation. Often she --
"Brother, is this the country that I see? "
The bricks were smoking and the ground was broke,
There were no signs of verdure when she spoke.

He, as the well-inform'd delight in chiding
The ignorant, these questions still deriding,
To his good judgment modestly she yields;
Till, brick-kilns past, they reach'd the open fields.

Then, as with rapturous wonder round she gazes
On the green grass, the buttercups and daisies, --

"This is the country, sure enough! " she cries:
"Is't not a charming place? " The boy replies,
"We'll go no further. " "No," says she, "no need:
No finer place than this can be, indeed! "
I left them gathering flowers, the happiest pair
That ever London sent to breathe the fine fresh air.

End of title

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