to mind
  My earliest notices; with these compared
  The observations made in later youth, 105
  And to that day continued.—­For, the time
  Had never been when throes of mighty Nations
  And the world’s tumult unto me could yield,
  How far soe’er transported and possessed,
  Full measure of content; but still I craved 110
  An intermingling of distinct regards
  And truths of individual sympathy
  Nearer ourselves.  Such often might be gleaned
  From the great City, else it must have proved
  To me a heart-depressing wilderness; 115
  But much was wanting:  therefore did I turn
  To you, ye pathways, and ye lonely roads;
  Sought you enriched with everything I prized,
  With human kindnesses and simple joys.

    Oh! next to one dear state of bliss, vouchsafed 120
  Alas! to few in this untoward world,
  The bliss of walking daily in life’s prime
  Through field or forest with the maid we love,
  While yet our hearts are young, while yet we breathe
  Nothing but happiness, in some lone nook, 125
  Deep vale, or any where, the home of both,
  From which it would be misery to stir: 
  Oh! next to such enjoyment of our youth,
  In my esteem, next to such dear delight,
  Was that of wandering on from day to day 130
  Where I could meditate in peace, and cull
  Knowledge that step by step might lead me on
  To wisdom; or, as lightsome as a bird
  Wafted upon the wind from distant lands,
  Sing notes of greeting to strange fields or groves, 135
  Which lacked not voice to welcome me in turn: 
  And, when that pleasant toil had ceased to please,
  Converse with men, where if we meet a face
  We almost meet a friend, on naked heaths
  With long long ways before, by cottage bench, 140
  Or well-spring where the weary traveller rests.

    Who doth not love to follow with his eye
  The windings of a public way? the sight,
  Familiar object as it is, hath wrought
  On my imagination since the morn 145
  Of childhood, when a disappearing line,
  One daily present to my eyes, that crossed
  The naked summit of a far-off hill
  Beyond the limits that my feet had trod,
  Was like an invitation into space 150
  Boundless, or guide into eternity. [C]
  Yes, something of the grandeur which invests
  The mariner who sails the roaring sea
  Through storm and darkness, early in my mind
  Surrounded, too, the wanderers of the earth; 155
  Grandeur as much, and loveliness far more. 
  Awed have I been by strolling Bedlamites;
  From many other uncouth vagrants (passed