66 But stately in the main; and when he ended, God," said I, "be my help and stay secure; I'll think of the Leech-gatherer on the lonely moor!" 1802. 1807. 140 William Wordsworth. THE SENSITIVE PLANT PART I A SENSITIVE Plant in a garden grew, And the Spring arose on the garden fair, Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. 8 But none ever trembled and panted with bliss In the garden, the field, or the wilderness, Like a doe in the noontide with love's sweet want, As the companionless Sensitive Plant. The snowdrop, and then the violet, Arose from the ground with warm rain wet, 12 And their breath was mixed with fresh odor, sent From the turf, like the voice and the instru ment. Then the pied wind-flowers and the tulip tall, 16 20 And the Naiad-like lily of the vale, And the hyacinth purple, and white, and blue, Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, 24 It was felt like an odor within the sense; 28 And the rose like a nymph to the bath addrest, Which unveiled the depth of her glowing breast, Till, fold after fold, to the fainting air The soul of her beauty and love lay bare: 32 And the wand-like lily, which lifted up, Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky; 36 And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose, The sweetest flower for scent that blows; And all rare blossoms from every clime And on the stream whose inconstant bosom blossom, With golden and green light, slanting through Their heaven of many a tangled hue, Broad water-lilies lay tremulously, And starry river-buds glimmered by, 40 44 With a motion of sweet sound and radiance. 48 And the sinuous paths of lawn and of moss, Which led through the garden, along and across, Some open at once to the sun and the breeze, Some lost among bowers of blossoming trees, 52 Were all paved with daisies and delicate bells dew. And from this undefiled Paradise The flowers (as an infant's awakening eyes 57 Can first lull, and at last must awaken it), 61 When Heaven's blithe winds had unfolded them, For each one was interpenetrated With the light and the odor its neighbor shed, Like young lovers whom youth and love make dear Wrapped and filled by their mutual atmo 65 sphere. 69 But the Sensitive Plant, which could give small fruit Of the love which it felt from the leaf to the root, Received more than all, it loved more than ever, Where none wanted but it, could belong to the giver, For the Sensitive Plant has no bright flower; 73 77 The light winds which, from unsustaining wings, The plumèd insects swift and free, 81 Laden with light and odor, which pass 85 The unseen clouds of the dew, which lie The quivering vapors of dim noontide, Each and all like ministering angels were And when evening descended from heaven above, 93 97 And the Earth was all rest, and the air was all love, And delight, tho' less bright, was far more deep, And the day's veil fell from the world of sleep, And the beasts, and the birds, and the insects were drowned In an ocean of dreams without a sound; Whose waves never mark, tho' they ever im press ΙΟΙ The light sand which paves it, consciousness; 105 |