1. THERE WAS A BOY. THERE was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, That they might answer him.—And they would shout Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise Its woods, and that uncertain heaven received This Boy was taken from his mates, and died And, through that church-yard when my way has led II. TO THE CUCKOO. O BLITHE New-comer! I have heard, O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird, Or but a wandering Voice? While I am lying on the grass Thy twofold shout I hear, That seems to fill the whole air's space, As loud far off as near. Though babbling only to the Vale, Of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours. Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring! Even yet thou art to me No bird but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery; The same whom in my school-boy days Which made me look a thousand ways To seek thee did I often rove And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again. O blessed Bird! the earth we pace An unsubstantial, faery place; That is fit home for Thee! 1804. |