Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/291

231 Old frailties then recurred:—but lofty thought,

In act embodied, my deliverance wrought.

And thou, though strong in love, art all too weak

In reason, in self-government too slow;

I counsel thee by fortitude to seek

Our blest re-union in the shades below.

The invisible world with thee hath sympathized;

Be thy affections raised and solemnized.

Learn by a mortal yearning to ascend

Towards a higher object:—Love was given,

Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for this end.

For this the passion to excess was driven—

That self might be annulled; her bondage prov

The fetters of a dream, opposed to love."

Aloud she shrieked! for Hermes re-appears!

Round the dear Shade she would have clung—'tis vain:

The hours are past, too brief had they been years;

And him no mortal effort can detain:

Swift tow'rd the realms that know not earthly day,

He through the portal takes his silent way—

And on the palace-floor a lifeless corse she lay