When the heart has been fretted by worldly stings;

And to watch the colours that flit and pass,

With insect-wings, through the wavy grass;

And the silvery gleams o’er the ash-tree’s bark,

Borne in with a breeze through the foliage dark.

Joyous and far shall our wanderings be,

As the flight of birds o’er the glittering sea:

To the woods, to the dingles where violets blow,

We will bear no memory of earthly woe.

But if, by the forest-brook, we meet