grain, 5
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands [2] 10
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard [3]
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas [A] 15
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago: 20
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang [4] 25
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listened, motionless and still; [5]
And, as [6] I mounted up the hill, 30
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1807.

... singing ...

MS.]

[Variant 2:

1827.

So sweetly to reposing bands 1807.]

[Variant 3:

1837.

No sweeter voice was ever heard 1807.

... sound ... MS.

Such thrilling voice was never heard 1827.]

[Variant 4:

1815.

... sung 1807.]

[Variant 5:

1820.

I listen'd till I had my fill: 1807.]

[Variant 6:

1807.

And when ... 1827.

The text of 1837 returns to that of 1807.]

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: Compare 'The Ancient Mariner'(part ii. stanza 6):

'And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea.'

Ed.]

The following is from Dorothy Wordsworth's 'Recollections' of the Tour:
13th Sept. 1803.

"As we descended, the scene became more fertile, our way being
pleasantly varied--through coppices or open fields, and passing
farm-houses, though always with an intermixture of cultivated ground.
It was harvest-time, and the fields were quietly--might I be allowed
to say pensively?--enlivened by small companies of reapers. It is not
uncommon in the more lonely parts of the Highlands to see a single
person so employed. The follo