ABSTRACT
Published 1842. It is to the brook at Somersby (H.T.), so it was presumably written in early 1837 when the family left. R. J. Tennant wrote to T.’s mother, 2 May 1837: ‘I am grieved to think how deserted Somersby will soon be’ (Brotherton Collection). It is probably not later than 1837, since it is in H.Nbk 21 (watermarked 1836). Cp. In Memoriam ci 9–10, on the same parting (p. 448): ‘Unloved, by many a sandy bar, / The brook shall babble down the plain.’ Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea, Thy tribute wave deliver: No more by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea, A rivulet then a river: No where by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. But here will sigh thine alder tree, And here thine aspen shiver; And here by thee will hum the bee, For ever and for ever. A thousand suns will stream on thee, A thousand moons will quiver; But not by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. [1837. Oh! that ’twere possible — see p. 988]
