The Wild Swans at Coole

Book Excerpt: ...Has marked a distant object down, An aimless joy is a pure joy, 'Or so did Tom O'Roughley sayThat saw the surges running by, 'And wisdom is a butterflyAnd not a gloomy bird of prey.'If little planned is little sinnedBut little need the grave distress.What's dying but a second wind?How but in zigzag wantonnessCould trumpeter Michael be so brave?'Or something of that sort he said, 'And if my dearest friend were deadI'd dance a measure on his grave.'THE SAD SHEPHERDSHEPHERDThat cry's from the first cuckoo of the yearI wished before it ceased.GOATHERDNor bird nor beastCould make me wish for anything this day, Being old, but that the old alone might die, And that would be against God's Providence.Let the young wish. But what has brought you here?Never until this moment have we metWhere my goats browse on the scarce grass orCl