WHEN we were idlers with the loitering rills, The need of human love we little noted: Our love was nature; and the peace that floated On the white mist, and dwelt upon the hills, To sweet accord subdued our wayward wills: One soul was ours, one mind, one heart devoted, That, wisely doting, ask'd not why it doted, And ours the unknown joy, which knowing kills. But now I find how dear thou wert to me; That man is more than half of nature's treasure, Of that fair beauty which no eye can see, Of that sweet music which no ear can measure; And now the streams may sing for others' pleasure, The hills sleep on in their eternity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DINKEY-BIRD by EUGENE FIELD BREAKFAST by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON IDYLLS OF THE KING: THE MARRIAGE OF GERAINT by ALFRED TENNYSON PENTUCKET [AUGUST 29, 1708] by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BEAUTIFUL THINGS by ELLEN P. ALLERTON ON THE DESERTED VILLAGE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE VISIONS OF BELLAY by JOACHIM DU BELLAY THE GEOGRAPHER'S GLORY; OR, THE GLOBE IN 1730 by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |