[I wandered lonely as a Cloud]

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.

Credit

This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on October 1, 2017. This poem is in the public domain.

About this Poem

“[I wandered lonely as a Cloud]” was originally published in Poems in Two Volumes (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, 1807). This revised version appeared in Poems by William Wordsworth (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1815).