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

SEQUEL TO THE FOREGOING, COMPOSED MANY YEARS AFTER

Composed 1817.--Published 1827

In the edition of 1840 the year assigned to this Sequel is 1817. It does not occur in the edition of 1820, but was first published in 1827. It was one of the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

Where are they now, those wanton Boys?

For whose free range the dædal earth

Was filled with animated toys,

And implements of frolic mirth;

With tools for ready wit to guide;

And ornaments of seemlier pride,

More fresh, more bright, than princes wear;

For what one moment flung aside,

Another could repair;

What good or evil have they seen

Since I their pastime witnessed here,

Their daring wiles, their sportive cheer?

I ask--but all is dark between! [1]

They met me in a genial hour,

When universal nature breathed

As with the breath of one sweet flower,--

A time to overrule the power

Of discontent, and check the birth

Of thoughts with better thoughts at strife,

The most familiar bane of life

Since parting Innocence bequeathed Mortality to Earth!

Soft clouds, the whitest of the year,

Sailed through the sky--the brooks ran clear;

The lambs from rock to rock were bounding;

With songs the budded groves resounding;

And to my heart are still endeared

The thoughts with which it then was cheered; [2]

The faith which saw that gladsome pair