Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/322

296 From Ellen's thoughts; had perished to her mind

For all concerns of fear, or hope, or love,

Save only those which to their common shame,

And to his moral being appertained:

Hope from that quarter would, I know, have brought

A heavenly comfort; there she recognised

An unrelaxing bond, a mutual need;

There, and, as seemed, there only.—She had raised,

Her fond maternal Heart had built a Nest

In blindness all too near the river's edge;

That Work a summer flood with hasty swell

Had swept away; and now her Spirit longed

For its last flight to Heaven's security.

—The bodily frame was wasted day by day;

Meanwhile, relinquishing all other cares,

Her mind she strictly tutored to find peace

And pleasure in endurance. Much she thought,

And much she read; and brooded feelingly

Upon her own unworthiness.—To me,

As to a spiritual comforter and friend,

Her heart she opened; and no pains were spared

To mitigate, as gently as I could,

The sting of self-reproach, with healing words.