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WORDSWORTH'S

POETICAL WORKS.

Poems referring to the Period of Childhood.

I.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!

The child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

II.

TO A BUTTERFLY.

STAY near me do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!

Much converse do I find in thee,

Historian of my infancy!

Float near me; do not yet depart!

Dead times revive in thee:

Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,

My father's family.

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when in our childish plays,

My Sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush

Upon the prey-with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her! feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.

III.

FORESIGHT;

OR, THE CHARGE OF A CHILD TO HIS YOUNGER COMPANION.

THAT is work of waste and ruin-
Do as Charles and I are doing!
Strawberry-blossoms, one and all,
We must spare them-here are many:
Look at it-the flower is small,
Small and low, though fair as any:
Do not touch it! summers two
I am older, Anne, than you.

Pull the primrose, Sister Anne !
Pull as many as you can.

-Here are daisies, take your fill!
Pansies, and the cuckoo-flower:
Of the lofty daffodil

Make your bed, and make your bower;
Fill your lap, and fill your bosom ;
Only spare the strawberry-blossom.

Primroses, the spring may love them--
Summer knows but little of them;
Violets, a barren kind,

Withered on the ground must lie;
Daisies leave no fruit behind
When the pretty flowerets die;
Pluck them, and another year
As many will be blowing here.

God has given a kindlier power
To the favoured strawberry-flower.
When the months of spring are fled,
Hither let us bend our walk;
Lurking berries, ripe and red,
Then will hang on every stalk,
Each within its leafy bower;

And for that promise spare the flower!

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