We grieved for thee, and wished thy end were past; [4]
  And willingly have laid thee here at last: 
  For thou hadst lived till every thing that cheers
  In thee had yielded to the weight of years;
  Extreme old age had wasted thee away, 15
  And left thee but a glimmering of the day;
  Thy ears were deaf, and feeble were thy knees,—­
  I saw thee stagger in the summer breeze,
  Too weak to stand against its sportive breath,
  And ready for the gentlest stroke of death. 20
  It came, and we were glad; yet tears were shed;
  Both man and woman wept when thou wert dead;
  Not only for a thousand thoughts that were,
  Old household thoughts, in which thou hadst thy share;
  But for some precious boons vouchsafed to thee, 25
  Found scarcely any where in like degree! 
  For love, that comes wherever life and sense
  Are given by God, in thee was most intense; [5]
  A chain of heart, a feeling of the mind,
  A tender sympathy, which did thee bind 30
  Not only to us Men, but to thy Kind: 
  Yea, for thy fellow-brutes in thee we saw
  A soul [6] of love, love’s intellectual law:—­
  Hence, if we wept, it was not done in shame;
  Our tears from passion and from reason came, 35
  And, therefore, shalt thou be an honoured name!

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:  In the editions of 1807 to 1820 the following lines began the poem.  They were withdrawn in 1827.

  Lie here sequester’d:—­be this little mound
  For ever thine, and be it holy ground!]

[Variant 2: 

1827.

  Beneath the ... 1807.]

[Variant 3: 

  But ...  Ms.]

[Variant 4: 

1837.

  I pray’d for thee, and that thy end were past; 1807.

  I grieved for thee, and wished thy end were past; 1820.]

[Variant 5: 

1837.

  For love, that comes to all; the holy sense,
  Best gift of God, in thee was most intense; 1807.]

[Variant 6: 

1837.

  The soul ... 1807.]

* * * * *

TO THE DAISY (#4)

Composed 1805.—­Published 1815

Placed by Wordsworth among his “Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces.”—­Ed.

  Sweet Flower! belike one day to have
  A place upon thy Poet’s grave,
  I welcome thee once more: 
  But He, who was on land, at sea,
  My Brother, too, in loving thee, 5
  Although he loved more silently,
  Sleeps by his native shore.

  Ah! hopeful, hopeful was the day
  When to that Ship he bent his way,
  To govern and to guide:  10
  His wish was gained:  a little time
  Would bring him back in manhood’s prime
  And free for life, these hills to climb;
  With all his wants supplied.