Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/363

337 Full oft his doings leave me to deplore

Tall ash-tree sown by winds, by vapours nursed,

In the dry crannies of the pendant rocks;

Light birch, aloft upon the horizon's edge,

Transparent texture, framing in the east

A veil of glory for the ascending moon;

And oak whose roots by noontide dew were damped,

And on whose forehead inaccessible

The raven lodged in safety.—Many a ship

Launched into Morecamb bay, hath owed to him

Her strong knee-timbers, and the mast that bears

The loftiest of her pendants. Help he gives

To lordly mansion rising far or near;

The enormous wheel that turns ten thousand spindles,

And the vast engine labouring in the mine,

Content with meaner prowess, must have lacked

The trunk and body of their marvellous strength,

If his undaunted enterprize had failed

Among the mountain coves, or keen research

In forest, park, or chace. Yon household Fir,

A guardian planted to fence off the blast,

But towering high the roof above, as if

Its humble destination were forgot;