No More Learning

]





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"STRANGE FITS OF PASSION HAVE I KNOWN"


Composed 1799. --Published 1800


[Written in Germany, 1799. --I. F. ]

One of the "Poems founded on the Affections. " In MS. Wordsworth gave, as
the title, "A Reverie," but erased it. --Ed.



Strange fits of passion have I known: [1]
And I will dare to tell,
But in the Lover's ear alone,
What once to me befel.

When she I loved looked every day 5
Fresh as a rose in June, [2]
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an [3] evening moon.

Upon the moon I fixed my eye,
All over the wide lea; 10
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh [4]
Those paths so dear to me.

And now we reached the orchard-plot;
And, as we climbed the hill,
The sinking moon to Lucy's cot 15
Came near, and nearer still. [5]

In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature's gentlest boon!
And all the while my eyes I kept
On the descending moon. 20

My horse moved on; hoof after hoof
He raised, and never stopped:
When down behind the cottage roof,
At once, the bright moon dropped.
[6]

What fond and wayward thoughts will slide 25
Into a Lover's head!
"O mercy! " to myself I cried,
"If Lucy should be dead! "



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VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1832.

. . . I have known, 1800. ]


[Variant 2:

1836.

When she I lov'd, was strong and gay
And like a rose in June, 1800. ]


[Variant 3:

1836.

. . . the . .