VI. Expressing a Wish.
227. After a verb of wishing, the subjunctive is regularly used in the dependent clause.
The transmigiation of souls is no fable. I would it were! —Emerson.
Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art!—Keats.
I've wished that little isle had wings,
And we, within its fairy bowers,
Were wafted off to seas unknown.
—Moore.