And; if a sleeping tear should wake, Then be it neither checked nor stayed: For Matthew a request I make 15 Which for himself he had not made. Poor Matthew, all his frolics o'er, Is silent as a standing pool; Far from the chimney's merry roar, And murmur of the village school. 20 The sighs which Matthew heaved were sighs Of one tired out with fun and madness; The tears which came to Matthew's eyes Were tears of light, the dew [1] of gladness. Yet, sometimes, when the secret cup 25 Of still and serious thought went round, It seemed as if he drank it up-- He felt with spirit so profound. --Thou soul of God's best earthly mould! Thou happy Soul! and can it be 30 That these two words of glittering gold Are all that must remain of thee? [2] * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1815. ... the oil ... 1800.] [Variant 2: 1800. ... to thee? 1805, and MS. The text of 1815 returns to that of 1800.] * * * * * FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: On the 27th March 1843, Wordsworth wrote to Professor Henry Reed of Philadelphia: "The character of the schoolmaster, had like the Wanderer in 'The Excursion' a solid foundation in fact and reality, but like him it was also in some degree a composition: I will not, and need not, call it an invention--it was no such thing." Ed.] * * * * * THE TWO APRIL MORNINGS Composed 1799.--Published 1800 One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--Ed. We walked along, while bright and red Uprose the morning sun; And Matthew stopped, he looked, and said, "The will of God be done!" A village schoolmaster was he, 5 With hair of glittering grey; As blithe a man as you could see On a spring holiday. And on that morning, through the grass, And by the steaming rills, 10 We travelled merrily, to pass A day among the hills. "Our work," said I, "was well begun, Then, from thy breast what thought, Beneath so beautiful a sun, 15 So sad a sigh has brought?" A second time did Matthew stop; And fixing still his eye Upon the eastern mountain-top, To me he made reply: 20 "Yon cloud with that long purple cleft Brings fresh into my mind A day like this which I have left Full thirty years behind. "And just above yon slope of corn 25 Such colours, and no other, Were in the sky, that April morn, Of this the very brother. [1] "With rod and line I sued the sport Which that sweet season gave, [2] 30 And, to the church-yard come, [3] stopped short Beside my daughter's grave.