Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 2. William Wordsworth

in being old."

        The sunshine may not bless it, nor the dew;

        It cannot help itself in it's decay;

        Stiff in it's members, wither'd, changed of hue.

        And, in my spleen, I smiled that it was grey.

        To be a Prodigal's Favorite – then, worse truth,

        A Miser's Pensioner – behold our lot!

        O Man! that from thy fair and shining youth

        Age might but take the things Youth needed not!

7

        I wandered lonely as a Cloud

        That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,

        When all at once I saw a crowd

        A host of dancing Daffodills;

        Along the Lake, beneath the trees,

        Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

        The waves beside them danced, but they

        Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: —

        A Poet could not but be gay

        In such a laughing company:

        I gaz'd – and gaz'd – but little thought

        What wealth the shew to me had brought:

      1

      [Footnote 1: See Hamilton's Ballad as above.]