John Caple: The Deserted Garden

I call’d the place my wilderness,

For no one enter’d there but I.

The sheep look’d in, the grass to espy,    

And pass’d it ne’ertheless.

The trees were interwoven wild,

And spread their boughs enough about

To keep both sheep and shepherd out,    

But not a happy child.

Adventurous joy it was for me!

I crept beneath the boughs, and found

A circle smooth of mossy ground    

Beneath a poplar-tree.