Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/141

115 Enlivened happiness with joy o'erflowing,

With joy, and—oh! that memory should survive

To speak the word—with rapture! Nature's boon,

Life's genuine inspiration, happiness

Above what rules can teach, or fancy feign;

Abused, as all possessions are abused

That are not prized according to their worth.

And yet, what worth? what good is given to Men,

More solid than the gilded clouds of heaven,

What joy more lasting than a vernal flower?

None! 'tis the general plaint of human kind

In solitude, and mutually addressed

From each to all, for wisdom's sake:—This truth

The Priest announces from his holy seat;

And, crowned with garlands in the summer grove,

The Poet fits it to his pensive Lyre.

Yet, ere that final resting-place be gained,

Sharp contradictions hourly shall arise

To cross the way; and we, perchance, by doom

Of this same life, shall be compelled to grieve

That the prosperities of love and joy

Should be permitted, oft-times, to endure

So long, and be at once cast down for ever.