xiii
[First Version]
In a Mirtle Shade
1Why should I be bound to thee,
O my lovely mirtle tree?
Love, free love, cannot be bound
To any tree that grows on ground.
5O ! how sick and weary I
Underneath my mirtle lie ;
Like to dung upon the ground,
Underneath my mirtle bound.
9Oft my mirtle sigh'd in vain
To behold my heavy chain :
Oft my father saw us sigh,
And laugh'd at our simplicity.
13So I smote him, & his gore
Stain'd the roots my mirtle bore.
But the time of youth is fled,
And grey hairs are on my head.
MS. Book, p. 111. DGR and WMR omit this version ; Swinb., pp. 137, 138, quotes stanzas i and 3. EY (Notes to the Poetical Sketches, Songs, &c.) iii. 94 ; WBY (Notes), p. 245. Cp. with this poem the fuller form of ' Infant Sorrow ' (MS. Book x).
5-8 O . . . bound] This stanza was added after the rest were written, in the left-hand column, prefixed numerals to 11. 5 and 9 indicating the relative position of the second and third stanzas. WBY, by omitting these and printing the stanzas as written, misrepresents the true order. Blake began stanza 2 with the couplet, afterwards deleted :
'To a lovely mirtle bound,
Blossoms show'ring all around.'
Both EY and WBY print this couplet without marking the deletion, as else- where, by italics. 5 sick] weak EY, WBY. 11 Oft . . . saw] Oft the priest beheld MS. Book 1st trig, del, : cp. MS. Book x. 13-16 So. . . head] cp. ' Infant Sorrow,' 11 33-6 (MS. Book x).
