The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Iii Part 4

Think of evening's repose when our labour was done, The sabbath's return; and its leisure's soft chain!

And in sickness, if night had been sparing of sleep, How cheerful, at sunrise, the hill where I stood, [7] 30 Looking down on the kine, and our treasure of sheep That besprinkled the field; 'twas like youth in my blood!

Now I cleave to the house, and am dull as a snail; And, oftentimes, hear the church-bell with a sigh, That follows the thought--We've no land in the vale, 35 Save six feet of earth where our forefathers lie!

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1820.

the delight of our day, MS.

O fools that we were--we had land which we sold MS.

O fools that we were without virtue to hold MS.

The fields that together contentedly lay Would have done us more good than another man's gold MS.]

[Variant 2:

1820.

When the bribe of the Tempter beset us, said I, Let him come with his bags proudly grasped in his hand.

But, Thomas, be true to me, Thomas, we'll die MS.]

[Variant 3:

1836.

... chose ... 1820 and MS.]

[Variant 4:

1820.

When my hand has half-lifted the latch of the gate, MS.]

[Variant 5:

1820.

... and ... MS.]

[Variant 6:

1827.

But the blessings, and comfort, and wealth that we had, We slighted them all,--and our birth-right was lost.

1820 and MS.

But we traitorously gave the best friend that we had For spiritless pelf--as we felt to our cost! MS.]

[Variant 7:

1820.

When my sick crazy body had lain without sleep, How cheering the sunshiny vale where I stood, MS.]

ADDRESS TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER, DORA, [A]

ON BEING REMINDED THAT SHE WAS A MONTH OLD THAT DAY, SEPTEMBER 16

Composed September 16, 1804.--Published 1815

Included by Wordsworth among his "Poems of the Fancy."--Ed.

--Hast thou then survived-- Mild Offspring of infirm humanity, Meek Infant! among all forlornest things The most forlorn--one life of that bright star, The second glory of the Heavens?--Thou hast; 5 Already hast survived that great decay, That transformation through the wide earth felt, And by all nations. In that Being's sight From whom the Race of human kind proceed, A thousand years are but as yesterday; 10 And one day's narrow circuit is to Him Not less capacious than a thousand years.

But what is time? What outward glory? neither A measure is of Thee, whose claims extend Through "heaven's eternal year." [B]--Yet hail to Thee, 15 Frail, feeble, Monthling!--by that name, methinks, Thy scanty breathing-time is portioned out Not idly.--Hadst thou been of Indian birth, Couched on a casual bed of moss and leaves, And rudely canopied by leafy boughs, 20 Or to the churlish elements exposed On the blank plains,--the coldness of the night, Or the night's darkness, or its cheerful face Of beauty, by the changing moon adorned, Would, with imperious admonition, then 25 Have scored thine age, and punctually timed Thine infant history, on the minds of those Who might have wandered with thee.--Mother's love, Nor less than mother's love in other b.r.e.a.s.t.s, Will, among us warm-clad and warmly housed, 30 Do for thee what the finger of the heavens Doth all too often harshly execute For thy unblest coevals, amid wilds Where fancy hath small liberty to grace The affections, to exalt them or refine; 35 And the maternal sympathy itself, Though strong, is, in the main, a joyless tie Of naked instinct, wound about the heart.

Happier, far happier is thy lot and ours!

Even now--to solemnise thy helpless state, 40 And to enliven in the mind's regard Thy pa.s.sive beauty--parallels have risen, Resemblances, or contrasts, that connect, Within the region of a father's thoughts, Thee and thy mate and sister of the sky. 45 And first;--thy sinless progress, through a world By sorrow darkened and by care disturbed, Apt likeness bears to hers, through gathered clouds, Moving untouched in silver purity, And cheering oft-times their reluctant gloom. 50 Fair are ye both, and both are free from stain: But thou, how leisurely thou fill'st thy horn With brightness! leaving her to post along, And range about, disquieted in change, And still impatient of the shape she wears. 55 Once up, once down the hill, one journey, Babe That will suffice thee; and it seems that now Thou hast fore-knowledge that such task is thine; Thou travellest so contentedly, and sleep'st In such a heedless peace. Alas! full soon 60 Hath this conception, grateful to behold, Changed countenance, like an object sullied o'er By breathing mist; and thine appears to be A mournful labour, while to her is given Hope, and a renovation without end. 65 --That smile forbids the thought; for on thy face Smiles are beginning, like the beams of dawn, To shoot and circulate; smiles have there been seen; Tranquil a.s.surances that Heaven supports The feeble motions of thy life, and cheers 70 Thy loneliness: or shall those smiles be called Feelers of love, put forth as if to explore This untried world, and to prepare thy way Through a strait pa.s.sage intricate and dim?

Such are they; and the same are tokens, signs, 75 Which, when the appointed season hath arrived, Joy, as her holiest language, shall adopt; And Reason's G.o.dlike Power be proud to own.