* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1836.

  ... great ... 1807.]

[Variant 2: 

1832.

  ... it’s ... 1807.]

[Variant 3: 

1836.

  Scorn’d and slighted ... 1807.]

[Variant 4: 

1836.

  Singing at my heart’s command,
  In the lanes my thoughts pursuing, 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  Common Pilewort.—­W.  W. 1807.]

[Footnote B:  The following stanza was inserted in the editions of 1836-1843: 

  ’Drawn by what peculiar spell,
  By what charm for sight or smell,
  Do those winged dim-eyed creatures,
  Labourers sent from waxen cells,
  Settle on thy brilliant features,
  In neglect of buds and bells
  Opening daily at thy side,
  By the season multiplied?’

In 1845 it was transferred to the following poem, where it will be found, with a change of text.—­Ed.]

* * * * *

TO THE SAME FLOWER

Composed May 1, 1802.—­Published 1807

One of the “Poems of the Fancy.”—­Ed.

  Pleasures newly found are sweet
  When they lie about our feet: 
  February last, my heart
  First at sight of thee was glad;
  All unheard of as thou art, 5
  Thou must needs, I think, have had,
  Celandine! and long ago,
  Praise of which I nothing know.

  I have not a doubt but he,
  Whosoe’er the man might be, 10
  Who the first with pointed rays
  (Workman worthy to be sainted)
  Set the sign-board in a blaze,
  When the rising [1] sun he painted,
  Took the fancy from a glance 15
  At thy glittering countenance.

  Soon as gentle breezes bring
  News of winter’s vanishing,
  And the children build their bowers,
  Sticking ’kerchief-plots of mould 20
  All about with full-blown flowers,
  Thick as sheep in shepherd’s fold! 
  With the proudest thou art there,
  Mantling in the tiny square.

  Often have I sighed to measure 25
  By myself a lonely pleasure,
  Sighed to think, I read a book
  Only read, perhaps, by me;
  Yet I long could overlook
  Thy bright coronet and Thee, 30
  And thy arch and wily ways,
  And thy store of other praise.

  Blithe of heart, from week to week
  Thou dost play at hide-and-seek;
  While the patient primrose sits 35
  Like a beggar in the cold,
  Thou, a flower of wiser wits,
  Slip’st into thy sheltering [2] hold;
  Liveliest of the vernal train [3]
  When ye all are out again. 40