Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 2.djvu/73

65 Field of death, where'er thou be,

Groan thou with our victory!

Happy day, and mighty hour,

When our Shepherd, in his power,

Mailed and horsed, with lance and sword,

To his Ancestors restored,

Like a re-appearing Star,

Like a glory from afar,

First shall head the Flock of War!"

Alas! the fervent Harper did not know

That for a tranquil Soul the Lay was framed,

Who, long compelled in humble walks to go,

Was softened into feeling, soothed, and tamed.

Love had he found in huts where poor Men lie,

His daily Teachers had been Woods and Rills,

The silence that is in the starry sky,

The sleep that is among the lonely hills.

In him the savage Virtue of the Race,

Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts were dead:

Nor did he change; but kept in lofty place

The wisdom which adversity had bred.