Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/283

257 With slow mutation unconcealable;

Such universal change as autumn makes

In the fair body of a leafy grove

Discoloured, then divested. 'Tis affirmed

By Poets skilled in nature's secret ways

That Love will not submit to be controlled

By mastery:—and the good Man lacked not Friends

Who strove to instil this truth into his mind,

A mind in all heart-mysteries unversed.

"Go to the hills," said one, "remit awhile

"This baneful diligence:—at early morn

"Court the fresh air, explore the heaths and woods;

"And, leaving it to others to foretell,

"By calculations sage, the ebb and flow

"Of tides, and when the moon will be eclipsed,

"Do you, for your own benefit, construct

"A calendar of flowers, plucked as they blow

"Where health abides, and chearfulness, and peace."

The attempt was made;—'tis needless to report

How hopelessly:—but Innocence is strong,

And an entire simplicity of mind

A thing most sacred in the eye of Heaven,

That opens, for such Sufferers, relief