The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume I Part 48

[Variant 30:

1836.

There foul neglect for months and months we bore, Nor yet the crowded fleet its anchor stirred. 1798.

There, long were we neglected, and we bore Much sorrow ere the fleet its anchor weigh'd; 1802.]

[Variant 31:

1802.

Green fields before us and our native sh.o.r.e, By fever, from polluted air incurred, Ravage was made, for which no knell was heard.

Fondly we wished, and wished away, nor knew, 'Mid that long sickness, and those hopes deferr'd, 1798.]

[Variant 32:

1802.

But from delay the summer calms were past. 1798.]

[Variant 33:

1802.

We gazed with terror on the gloomy sleep Of them that perished in the whirlwind's sweep, 1798.]

[Variant 34:

Oh! dreadful price of being to resign All that is dear _in_ being! better far In Want's most lonely cave till death to pine, Unseen, unheard, unwatched by any star; Or in the streets and walks where proud men are, Better our dying bodies to obtrude, Than dog-like, wading at the heels of war, Protract a curst existence, with the brood That lap (their very nourishment!) their brother's blood.

Only in the editions of 1798 and 1800.]

[Variant 35:

1842.

It would thy brain unsettle even to hear. 1798.]

[Variant 36:

1842.

Peaceful as some immeasurable plain By the first beams of dawning light impress'd, 1798.]

[Variant 37:

1827.

... has its hour of rest, That comes not to the human mourner's breast. 1798.

I too was calm, though heavily distress'd! 1802.]

[Variant 38:

1842.

Remote from man, and storms of mortal care, A heavenly silence did the waves invest; I looked and looked along the silent air, Until it seemed to bring a joy to my despair. 1798.

Oh me, how quiet sky and ocean were!

My heart was healed within me, I was bless'd.

And looked, and looked ... 1802.

My heart was hushed within me, ... 1815.

As quiet all within me, ... 1827.]

[Variant 39:

1800.

Where looks inhuman dwelt on festering heaps! 1798.]

[Variant 40: The following stanza appeared only in the editions 1798-1805:

Yet does that burst of woe congeal my frame, When the dark streets appeared to heave and gape, While like a sea the storming army came, And Fire from h.e.l.l reared his gigantic shape, And Murder, by the ghastly gleam, and Rape Seized their joint prey, the mother and the child!

But from these crazing thoughts my brain, escape!

--For weeks the balmy air breathed soft and mild, And on the gliding vessel Heaven and Ocean smiled. 1798.

At midnight once the storming Army came, Yet do I see the miserable sight, The Bayonet, the Soldier, and the Flame That followed us and faced us in our flight: When Rape and Murder by the ghastly light Seized their joint prey, the Mother and the Child!

But I must leave these thoughts.--From night to night, From day to day, the air breathed soft and mild; And on the gliding vessel Heaven and Ocean smiled. 1802-5.]

[Variant 41:

1802.

And oft, robb'd of my perfect mind, I thought At last my feet a resting-place had found: Here will I weep in peace, (so fancy wrought,) 1798.]