I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth, 1807
Wordsworth’s poem about coming upon a host of golden daffodils beside a lake, and how the memory of them later fills his heart with pleasure.
I wandered lonely as a CloudThat floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host of golden Daffodils;Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:—A Poet could not but be gayIn such a jocund company:I gazed—and gazed—but little thoughtWhat wealth the shew to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude,And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the Daffodils.