Upon a bank I sat a child made seer
Of one fair primrose flowering in my mind:
Better than love it is, said I, to find
One small page of God's manuscript made clear.
I looked on Truth transfigured without fear,
The light was very beautiful and kind;
And where the Holy Ghost in flame had signed
I read it through the lenses of a tear.
And then my day grew dim, I could not see
The primrose that had lighted me to Heaven,
And there was but the shadow of a tree
Ghostly among the stars. The years that pass
Like shadow soldiers never more have given
One moment to see wonders in the grass
§ In Line 12, 'clouds' is faintly pencilled above 'stars'.
Line 13 is corrected from:
'Like non-stop trains never more have given'.
'Weary' is pencilled below 'shadow'.
