Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/170

144 And, if they wither, I am worse than dead!

—Come Labour, when the worn-out frame requires

Perpetual sabbath; come disease and want;

And sad exclusion through decay of sense;

But leave me unabated trust in Thee—

And let thy favour, to the end of life,

Inspire me with ability to seek

Repose and hope among eternal things—

Father of heaven and earth! and I am rich,

And will possess my portion in content!

And what are things Eternal?—Powers depart,"

The grey-haired Wanderer steadfastly replied,

Answering the question which himself had asked,

"Possessions vanish, and Opinions change,

And Passions hold a fluctuating seat:

But, by the storms of circumstance unshaken,

And subject neither to eclipse or wane,

Duty exists;—immutably survive,

For our support, the measures and the forms,

Which an abstract Intelligence supplies;

Whose kingdom is, where Time and Space are not:

Of other converse, which mind, soul, and heart,