THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - VOL. 2 (Completed)

THE DANISH BOY -- A FRAGMENT

Composed 1799.--Published 1800

[Written in Germany, 1799. It was entirely a fancy; but intended as a prelude to a ballad-poem never written.--I.F.]

In the editions of 1800-1832 this poem was called 'A Fragment'. From 1836 onwards it was named 'The Danish Boy. A Fragment'. It was one of the "Poems of the Fancy."--Ed.

                            I

Between two sister moorland rills

There is a spot that seems to lie

Sacred to flowerets of the hills,

And sacred to the sky.

And in this smooth and open dell

There is a tempest-stricken tree;

A corner-stone by lightning cut,

The last stone of a lonely hut; [1]

And in this dell you see

A thing no storm can e'er destroy,

The shadow of a Danish Boy. [A]

                                   II

In clouds above, the lark is heard,

But drops not here to earth for rest; [2]

Within [3] this lonesome nook the bird

Did never build her [4] nest.

No beast, no bird hath here his home;

Bees, wafted on [5] the breezy air,

Pass high above those fragrant bells

To other flowers:--to other dells

Their burthens do they bear; [6]

The Danish Boy walks here alone:

The lovely dell is all his own.

                      III

A Spirit of noon-day is he;