Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/292

232 Ah, judge her gently who so deeply loved!

Her, who, in reason's spite, yet without crime,

Was in a trance of passion thus removed;

Delivered from the galling yoke of time

And these frail elements—to gather flowers

Of blissful quiet mid unfading bowers.

Yet tears to human suffering are due;

And mortal hopes defeated and o'erthrown

Are mourned by man, and not by man alone,

As fondly he believes.—Upon the side

Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained)

A knot of spiry trees for ages grew

From out the tomb of him for whom she died;

And ever, when such stature they had gained

That Ilium's walls were subject to their view,

The trees' tall summits wither'd at the sight;

A constant interchange of growth and blight!