Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/131

105 "If, such as now he is, he might remain!

Ah! what avails Imagination high

Or Question deep? what profits all that Earth,

Or Heaven's blue Vault, is suffered to put forth

Of impulse or allurement, for the Soul

To quit the beaten track of life, and soar

Far as she finds a yielding element

In past or future; far as she can go

Through time or space; if neither in the one

Nor in the other region, nor in aught

That Fancy, dreaming o'er the map of things,

Hath placed beyond these penetrable bounds,

Words of assurance can be heard; if no where

A habitation, for consummate good,

Or for progressive virtue, by the search

Can be attained, a better sanctuary

From doubt and sorrow, than the senseless grave?"

"Is this," the grey-haired Wanderer mildly said,

"The voice, which we so lately overheard,

To that same Child, addressing tenderly

The Consolations of a hopeful mind?

&apos;His body is at rest, his soul in heaven.&apos;