"Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known"			

I have experienced some strange feelings;
and I shall dare to tell you
(what only a Lover's ear has heard before)
one strange thing that happened to me.

When the person I loved looked
as beautiful as a rose in June,
I went to her cottage [house]
one evening when the moon was out.

I looked at the moon
and I looked at the land around me.
My horse, moving faster, came close
to the paths I loved so much.

And then we reached the orchard
and, as we went up the hill,
the moon descended nearer and nearer
to Lucy's cottage.

I seemed to be in a kind of dream,
the kind of dream that is Nature's best gift.
All the time my eyes watched the moon
as it descended.

My horse moved on.  He lifted hoof after hoof 
and never stopped.
Suddenly, the moon went down behind
the cottage roof.

What strange thoughts sometimes come 
into a lover's head!
"O mercy!" I cried out to myself.
"It would be aweful if Lucy were dead!"



"She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways"

She lived in places were people do not go [untrodden]
besides the waters of the River Dove.
She was a maid who could not be praised [because no-one was there to praise her]
And very few people loved her [because so few people knew she existed].

She was a violet flower beside a mossy stone - 
she was half-hidden by the stone!
She was as beautiful as a star, when there is only one 
star shining in the sky.

She lived there unknown to other people, and few knew
when she died;
But now she is in her grave and, oh,
What a big difference it makes to me!



"Three Years She Grew"

She grew up in the sun and rain for three years.
Then Nature said: "There is no lovelier flower
that has ever been planted [sown] on the earth.
I will take this child for myself.
She will be mine, and she can grow up
into a lady with me.

"I will teach her about
both the law and the emotions; and with me
the girl will feel, in the mountains and the plains,
on the earth and in heaven, outside [glade] and inside [bower],
[the girl will feel] the presence of a great god-like power -
a power that will encourage her and restrain her [in the things she does].

"She shall be as athletic as the young deer [fawn]
that runs, wild with happiness, across the lawn
or jumps [springs] up the mountain sides.
And she will feel the healing breath,
And she will feel the silence and the calm
Of quiet, invisible things [ie God/Nature].

The clouds floating in the sky will worship her;  
the willow trees will bow down to her.
And she will find [see],
even in storms, 
the peace and charm that will turn her into a woman
through silent influence.

The stars at midnight will be very precious
to her; and she will listen 
in secret places
to the sounds made by small rivers as they flow.
And all these sounds and experiences
will make her beautiful.

"And great feelings of joy
shall make her grow into a tall, fine woman,
and shall make her bosom swell.
All this I will do for Lucy
while she and I live together
in this happy valley."

Nature said these things - the job was done - 
How quickly Lucy's short life had come to an end!
She died, and left to me only
this open empty space [heath], this calm and quiet scene
and the memory of what has passed,
and will never pass again.



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