Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 2.djvu/278

270 That skimmed the surface of the dead calm lake

Suddenly halting now—a lifeless stand!

And starting off again with freak as sudden,

In all its sportive wanderings all the while

Making report of an invisible breeze

That was its wings, its chariot, and its horse,

Its very playmate, and its moving soul.

And often, trifling with a privilege

Alike indulged to all, we paused, one now,

And now the other, to point out, perchance

To pluck, some flower or water-weed, too fair

Either to be divided from the place

On which it grew, or to be left alone

To its own beauty. Many such there are,

Fair Ferns and Flowers, and chiefly that tall Fern

So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named;

Plant lovelier in its own retired abode

On Grasmere's beach, than Naiad by the side

Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere

Sole-sitting by the shores of old Romance.

—So fared we that sweet morning: from the fields,

Meanwhile, a noise was heard, the busy mirth

Of Reapers, Men and Women, Boys and Girls.

Delighted much to listen to those sounds,