NPM - Day 15

The motivation for the NPM series is to celebrate April 2015 -- the National poetry month (hence NPM in the title), by sharing a favorite poem of mine every day of this month, starting April 13, 2015.

This following poem by William Wordsworth is commonly known as Daffodils. This site maintained by Wordsworth trust has a nice article about its genesis and evolution. The third stanza especially seems to have been added by Wordsworth later, accompanying a series of revisions.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

-- William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud 
That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 
When all at once I saw a crowd, 
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
 
Continuous as the stars that shine 
And twinkle on the milky way, 
They stretched in never-ending line 
Along the margin of a bay,
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
 
The waves beside them danced, but they 
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee,
A poet could not but be gay, 
In such a jocund company,
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought 
What wealth the show to me had brought.

 
For oft, when on my couch I lie 
In vacant or in pensive mood, 
They flash upon that inward eye 
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills, 
And dances with the daffodils.