yorlin] the yellow-hammer. hindberrye] bramble. minny]
mother. greet] mourn. westlin] western. its lane] alone, by
itself. low'd] flamed. eiry leme] eery gleam. linn]
waterfall. joup] mantle. swa'd] swelled. waik] a row of deep
damp grass. wene] ?whin, a furze-bush. maike] a mate, match,
equal. his lane] alone, by himself. happ'd] covered. speer]
inquire. fere] fellow. eident] unintermittently. kemed]
combed. kyth] show, appear. gleid] spark, glow. elyed]
vanished. marled] variegated, parti-coloured. leifu'] lone,
wistful. girn'd] snarled. weir] war. gowl'd] howled. geck'd]
mocked. arles] money paid on striking a bargain; fig. a
beating. lened] crouched. swink'd] laboured. brainyell'd]
stirred, beat. mooted] moulted. sey] essay. unmeled]
unblemished. her lane] alone, by herself. seymar]=cymar, a slight
covering. raike] range, wander. bughts] milking-pens. goved]
stared, gazed. corby] raven. houf] haunt. raike] ramble. tod]
fox. attour] out over. forhooy'd] neglected.
William Wordsworth. 1770-1850
515. Lucy
i
STRANGE fits of passion have I known:
And I will dare to tell,
But in the lover's ear alone,
What once to me befell.
When she I loved look'd every day
Fresh as a rose in June,
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an evening moon.
Upon the moon I fix'd my eye,
All over the wide lea;
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh
Those paths so dear to me.
And now we reach'd the orchard-plot;
And, as we climb'd the hill,
The sinking moon to Lucy's cot
Came near and nearer still.
In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature's gentlest boon!
And all the while my eyes I kept
On the descending moon.
My horse moved on; hoof after hoof
He raised, and never stopp'd:
When down behind the cottage roof,
At once, the bright moon dropp'd.
What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a lover's head!
'O mercy!' to myself I cried,
'If Lucy should be dead!'
William Wordsworth. 1770-1850
516. Lucy
ii
SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and oh,
The difference to me!
William Wordsworth. 1770-1850
517. Lucy
iii
I TRAVELL'D among unknown men,
In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee.
'Tis past, that melancholy dream!
Nor will I quit thy shore
A second time; for still I seem
To love thee more and more.
Among thy mountains did I feel
The joy of my desire;
And she I cherish'd turn'd her wheel
Beside an English fire.
Thy mornings showed, thy nights conceal'd,
The bowers where Lucy played;
And thine too is the last green field
That Lucy's eyes survey'd.
William Wordsworth. 1770-1850
518. Lucy
iv
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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