Folly bright-eyed, and quick, and young
Was there with all his silly plots,
And trotty wagtail stepped among
The delicate forget-me-nots,
And laughter played with us above
The rocky shelves and weeded holes
And we had fellowship to love
The pigeons and the water-voles.
Time soon shall be when we are all
Stiller than ever runs the Wye,
And every bitterness shall fall
To-morrow in obscurity,
And wars be done, and treasons fail,
Yet shall new friends go down to greet
The singing rocks of Millers Dale,
And willow pools and meadowsweet.
WRITTEN AT LUDLOW CASTLE
(IN THE HALL WHERE COMUS WAS
FIRST PERFORMED)
Where wall and sill and broken window-frame
Are bright with flowers unroofed against the skies,
And nothing but the nesting jackdaws’ cries
Breaks the hushed even, once imperial came
The muse that moved transfiguring the name
Of Puritan, and beautiful and wise
The verses fell, forespeaking Paradise,
And poetry set all this hall aflame.
Now silence has come down upon the place
Where life and song so wonderfully went,
And the mole’s afoot now where that passion rang,
Yet Comus now first moves his laurelled pace,
For song and life for ever are unspent,
And they are more than ghosts who lived and sang.
WORDSWORTH AT GRASMERE
These hills and waters fostered you
Abiding in your argument
Until all comely wisdom drew
About you, and the years were spent.
Now over hill and water stays
A world more intimately wise,
Built of your dedicated days,
And seen in your beholding eyes.