TO A SKY-LARK

Composed 1805.—­Published 1807

[Rydal Mount, 1825. [A]—­I.  F.]

In pencil opposite,

  “Where there are no skylarks; but the poet is everywhere.”

In the edition of 1807 this is No. 2 of the “Poems, composed during a Tour, chiefly on foot.” [B] In 1815 it became one of the “Poems of the Fancy.”—­Ed.

  Up with me! up with me into the clouds! 
      For thy song, Lark, is strong;
  Up with me, up with me into the clouds! 
        Singing, singing,
  With clouds and sky [1] about thee ringing, 5
      Lift me, guide me till I find
  That spot which seems so to thy mind!

  I have walked through wildernesses dreary,
  And [2] to-day my heart is weary;
  Had I now the wings [3] of a Faery, 10
  Up to thee would I fly. 
  There is madness about thee, and joy divine
  In that song of thine;
  Lift me, guide me high and high [4]
  To thy banqueting-place in the sky. 15

          Joyous as morning, [5]
  Thou art laughing and scorning;
  Thou hast a nest for thy love and thy rest,
  And, though little troubled with sloth,
  Drunken Lark! thou would’st be loth 20
  To be such a traveller as I.
  Happy, happy Liver,
  With a soul as strong as a mountain river
  Pouring out praise to the almighty Giver,
      Joy and jollity be with us both! 25

  Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven,
  Through prickly moors or dusty ways must wind;
  But hearing thee, or others of thy kind,
  As full of gladness and as free of heaven,
  I, with my fate contented, will plod on, 30
  And hope for higher raptures, when life’s day is done. [6]

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1827.

  With all the heav’ns ... 1807]

[Variant 2: 

  But ...  Ms.]

[Variant 3: 

1815.

  the soul ... 1807.]

[Variant 4: 

1832.

  Up with me, up with me, high and high, ... 1807.]

[Variant 5:  This and the previous stanza were omitted in the edition of 1827, but restored in that of 1832.]

[Variant 6: 

1827.

    Joy and jollity be with us both! 
    Hearing thee, or else some other,
        As merry a Brother,
  I on the earth will go plodding on,
  By myself, chearfully, till the day is done. 1807.

  What though my course be rugged and uneven,
  To prickly moors and dusty ways confined,
  Yet, hearing thee, or others of thy kind,
  As full of gladness and as free of heaven,
  I on the earth will go plodding on,
  By myself, cheerfully, till the day is done. 1820.]