For I must tread on shadowy ground, must sink Deep and, aloft ascending, breathe in worlds 35 To which the heaven of heavens is but a veil. 30 Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out Which craft of delicate Spirits hath composed 40 40 An hourly neighbour. Paradise, and groves A history only of departed things, 50 55 бо - I, long before the blissful hour arrives, Would chant, in lonely peace, the spousal verse Of this great consummation: - and, by words Which speak of nothing more than what we are, Would I arouse the sensual from their sleep Of death, and win the vacant and the vain To noble raptures; while my voice proclaims How exquisitely the individual mind (And the progressive powers perhaps no less Of the whole species) to the external world Is fitted:- and how exquisitely, too Theme this but little heard of among men The external world is fitted to the mind; And the creation (by no lower name Can it be called) which they with blended might With star-like virtue in its place may shine, Shedding benignant influence, and secure Itself from all malevolent effect 90 65 Thou bringest unto me a tale Behold her, single in the field, Alone she cuts and binds the grain No nightingale did ever chaunt A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides. ΤΟ On Yarrow's banks let herons feed, Hares couch, and rabbits burrow! But we will downward with the Tweed, Nor turn aside to Yarrow. 15 "There's Galla Water, Leader Haughs, Both lying right before us; There's pleasant Tiviot-dale, a land Made blithe with plough and harrow: 5 Why throw away a needful day 15 |