Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/417

391 By which the finer passages of sense

Are occupied; and the Soul, that would incline

To listen, is prevented or deterred.

And may it not be hoped, that, placed by Age

In like removal tranquil though severe,

We are not so removed for utter loss;

But for some favour, suited to our need?

What more than this, that we thereby should gain

Fresh power to commune with the invisible world,

And hear the mighty stream of tendency

Uttering, for elevation of our thought,

A clear sonorous voice, inaudible

To the vast multitude; whose doom it is

To run the giddy round of vain delight,

Or fret and labour on the Plain below.

But, if to such sublime ascent the hopes

Of Man may rise, as to a welcome close

And termination of his mortal course,

Them only can such hope inspire whose minds

Have not been starved by absolute neglect;

Nor bodies crushed by unremitting toil;