Besides, Mary Wordsworth was in no sense “a Child of Nature,” as Dorothy was:  while the testimony of the Wordsworth household is explicit, that it was to his sister, and not to his wife, that the poet referred.  I find no difficulty in the allusion made in the second poem to Dorothy being yet possibly a “Wife and Friend”; nor to the fact that it was originally addressed “To a beautiful Young Lady.”  Neither Dorothy nor Mary Wordsworth were physically “beautiful,” according to our highest standards; although the poet addressed the latter as “a Phantom of delight,” and as “a lovely apparition.”  It is quite true that it was Mary Wordsworth’s old age that was “serene and bright,” while Dorothy’s was the very reverse; but the poet’s anticipation of the future was written when his sister was young, and was by far the stronger of the two.—­Ed.

* * * * *

TO A YOUNG LADY, WHO HAD BEEN REPROACHED FOR TAKING LONG WALKS IN THE COUNTRY [A]

Composed 1802.—­Published 1807

[Composed at the same time and on the same view as “I met Louisa in the shade:”  indeed they were designed to make one piece.—­I.F.]

From 1815 to 1832 this was classed among the “Poems proceeding from Sentiment and Reflection.”  In 1836 it was transferred to the group of “Poems of the Imagination.”—­Ed.

  Dear Child of Nature, let them rail! 
—­There is a nest in a green dale,
  A harbour and a hold;
  Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see
  Thy own heart-stirring days, [1] and be 5
  A light to young and old.

  There, healthy as a shepherd boy,
  And treading among flowers of joy
  Which at no season fade, [2]
  Thou, while thy babes around thee cling, 10
  Shalt show us how divine a thing
  A Woman may be made.

  Thy thoughts and feelings shall not die,
  Nor leave thee, when grey hairs are nigh
  A melancholy slave; 15
  But an old age serene [3] and bright,
  And lovely as a Lapland night,
  Shall lead thee to thy grave.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1836.

  Thy own delightful days, ... 1802.]

[Variant 2: 

1836.

  As if thy heritage were joy,
  And pleasure were thy trade. 1802.

  And treading among flowers of joy,
  That at no season fade, 1827.]

[Variant 3: 

1815.

  ... alive ... 1802.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  For the original title of this poem,—­as published in ’The Morning Post and Gazetteer’,—­see the note to the previous poem.  When first published it was unsigned.—­Ed.]