The speaker goes back to things he once ignored and sees them with fresh, childlike eyes. Small details—clouds reflected in shallow pools, the playful movement of frogs, unnamed wildflowers scattered across meadows—become strange and full of meaning. Lying by a shaded stream, he lets time drift, no longer needing to rush or explain anything. The mood is calm and reflective, touched by quiet relief. What he finds is not just a landscape, but a peacefulness he has needed for a long time. The poem feels like a slow homecoming to stillness, a rediscovery of wonder in the ordinary.
Return — Summary
I have gone back in boyish wonderment To things that I had foolishly put by.... Have found an alien and unknown content In seeing how some bits of cloud-filled sky Are framed in bracken pools; through chuckling hours Have watched the antic frogs, or curiously Have numbered all the unnamed, vagrant flowers, That fleck the unkempt meadows, lavishly.
Or where a headlong toppling stream has stayed Its racing, lulled to quiet by the song Bursting from out the thickleaved oaken shade, There I have lain while hours sauntered past-- I have found peacefulness somewhere at last, Have found a quiet needed for so long.