Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/203

177 The silent hours; and who to that report

Can portion out his pleasures, and adapt

His round of pastoral duties, is not left

With less intelligence for moral things

Of gravest import. Early he perceives,

Within himself, a measure and a rule,

Which to the Sun of Truth he can apply,

That shines for him, and shines for all Mankind.

Experience, daily fixing his regards

On Nature's wants, he knows how few they are,

And where they lie, how answered and appeased.

This knowledge ample recompence affords

For manifold privations; he refers

His notions to this standard; on this rock

Rests his desires; and hence, in after life,

Soul-strengthening patience, and sublime content.

Imagination—not permitted here

To waste her powers, as in the Worldling's mind,

On fickle pleasures, and superfluous cares,

And trivial ostentation—is left free

And puissant to range the solemn walks

Of time and nature, girded by a zone

That, while it binds, invigorates and supports.