The Bards Delight

The following is from a collection of poems by Wordsworth entitled Ecclesiastical Sonnets.


I saw the figure of a lovely Maid
Seated alone beneath a darksome tree,
Whose fondly-overhanging canopy
Set off her brightness with a pleasing shade.
No spirit was she; that my heart betrayed,
For she was one I loved exceedingly;
But while I gazed in tender reverie
(Or was it sleep that with my Fancy played?)
The bright corporeal presence - form and face -
Remaining still distinct grew thin and rare,
Like sunny mist; - at length the golden hair,
Shape, limbs, and heavenly features, keeping pace
Each with the other in a lingering race
Of dissolution, melted into air.

William Wordsworth
1770-1850