15.

"Beloved Vale!" I said, "when I shall con
Those many records of my childish years,
Remembrance of myself and of my peers
Will press me down to think of what is gone
Will be an awful thought, if life have one."
But, when into the Vale I came, no fears
Distress'd me; I look'd round, I shed no tears;
Deep thought, or awful vision, I had none.
By thousand petty fancies I was cross'd,

To see the Trees, which I had thought so tall,
Mere dwarfs; the Brooks so narrow, Fields so small.
A Juggler's Balls old Time about him toss'd;

I looked, I stared, I smiled, I laughed; and all The weight of sadness was in wonder lost.

16.

Methought I saw the footsteps of a throne
Which mists and vapours from mine eyes
Nor view of him who sate thereon allow'd;

did shroud,

But all the steps and ground about were strown
With sights the ruefullest that flesh and bone
Ever put on; a miserable crowd, ·-

Sick, hale, old, young, who cried before that cloud,

66

"Thou art our king, O Death! to thee we groan."

I seem'd to mount those steps; the vapours gave

Smooth

way;

and I beheld the face of one

Sleeping alone within a mossy cave,

With her face up to heaven; that seem'd to have

Pleasing remembrance of a thought foregone;

A lovely Beauty in a summer grave!

To the

17.

Lady! the songs of Spring were in the grove
While I was framing beds of winter flowers;
While I was planting green unfading bowers,
And shrubs to hang upon the warm alcove,
And sheltering wall; and still, as fancy wove
The dream, to time and nature's blended powers
I gave this paradise for winter hours,

A labyrinth Lady! which your feet shall rove.
Yes! when the sun of life more feebly shines,
Becoming thoughts, I trust, of solemn gloom
Or of high gladness you shall hither bring;
And these perennial bowers and murmuring pines
Be gracious as the music and the bloom

And all the mighty ravishment of Spring.

VOL. I.

18.

The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The Winds that will be howling at all hours And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for every thing, we are out of tune;

It moves us not- Great God! I'd rather be

-

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn :
Have sight of Proteus coming from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

19.

It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free;
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven is on the Sea:
Listen! the mighty Being is awake

And doth with his eternal motion make

A sound like thunder-everlastingly.

Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear'st untouch'd by solemn thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine:

Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the

year;

And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.