Help us to tell Her tales of years gone by, And this sweet spring, the best beloved and best; 50 Joy will be flown in its mortality; Something must stay to tell us of the rest. Here, thronged with primroses, the steep rock's breast Glittered at evening like a starry sky; And in this bush our sparrow built her nest, 55 Of which I sang [6] one song that will not die. [A] O happy Garden! whose seclusion deep Hath been so friendly to industrious hours; And to soft slumbers, that did gently steep Our spirits, carrying with them dreams of flowers, 60 And wild notes warbled among leafy bowers; Two burning months let summer overleap, And, coming back with Her who will be ours, Into thy bosom we again shall creep. * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1836. And safely she will ride ... 1815. ... will she ... 1832.] [Variant 2: 1836. ... that decorate our door 1815.] [Variant 3: 1820. She'll come ... 1815.] [Variant 4: 1827. ... which ... 1815] [Variant 5: 1827. ... in ... 1815.] [Variant 6: 1832. ... sung ... 1815.] * * * * * FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: See 'The Sparrow's Nest', p. 236.--Ed.] "May 29.--William finished his poem on going for Mary. I wrote it out. A sweet day. We nailed up the honeysuckle and hoed the scarlet beans." She added on the 31st, "I wrote out the poem on our departure, which he seemed to have finished;" and on June 13th, "William has been altering the poem to Mary this morning." The "little Nook of mountain-ground" is in much the same condition now, as it was in 1802. The "flowering shrubs" and the "rocky well" still exist, and "the steep rock's breast" is "thronged with primroses" in spring. The "bower" is gone; but, where it used to be, a seat is now erected. The Dove Cottage orchard is excellently characterised in Mr. Stopford Brooke's pamphlet describing it (1890). See also 'The Green Linnet', p. 367, with the note appended to it, and Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal, _passim_.--Ed. * * * * * "THE SUN HAS LONG BEEN SET" Composed June 8, 1802.--Published 1807 [This _Impromptu_ appeared, many years ago, among the Author's poems, from which, in subsequent editions, it was excluded. [A] It is reprinted, at the request of the Friend in whose presence the lines were thrown off.--I.F.] One of the "Evening Voluntaries."--Ed. The sun has long been set, The stars are out by twos and threes, The little birds are piping yet Among the bushes and trees; [1] There's a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes, 5 And a far-off wind that rushes, And a sound of water that gushes, [2] And the cuckoo's sovereign cry Fills all the hollow of the sky.