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Saturday 4 March 2017

Angling on the Inny

( from Wordsworth's 'poems on the naming of places')

William Wordsworth

Close to the spot where with my rod and line
angling beside the margin of the lake,
Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance
a bed of water in the woods did wake.

The spot was made by nature for herself,
this glade of water and this one green field,
And if a man should plant his cottage near
a cloistered place, of refuge, shade and shield.

In that perennial shade of unencumbered floor
a single beech tree grew and on the fork
a thrush's nest conspicuously built,
Sentry on a tranquil spot, a solitary stork.

From the remotest outskirts of the grove
a few sheep, stragglers from some mountain flock
sought protection from the nipping blast
in playgrounds of their youth, on footloose rock.

Full many an hour here did I lose,
Well worn the track, unwearied and alone,
Muttering the verses which I muttered first
on blooming heath, my couch and mine alone.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for posting this poem, I haven't read it before! Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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