I saw the orchard daffodils

About the calm homestead;

Ah, saddest thought that ever fills

An errant heart that memory thrills,

The heath-smell of his homeland hills

To one whose loves are dead ...

What yearnings burn the human breast;

What wild desires like prisoned birds

Impel the heart from east to west;

What urgings baffling words

Beat up from nature unexpressed

Till soul distinct stands manifest,

On guard for heaven, or, wanton, hurled

Toward judgment through the world.

Long following beauty's floating flame

Beneath the sky from sea to sea

No isle of rest, no haven could claim

The lonely, homeless heart in me.

Sick loneliness no more should be

Companion to my soul, for She

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