Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/129

 BOOK FIFTH.

BOOKS.

Contemplation, like the night-calm felt

Through earth and sky, spreads widely, and sends deep

Into the soul its tranquillising power,

Even then I sometimes grieve for thee, O Man,

Earth's paramount Creature! not so much for woes

That thou endurest; heavy though that weight be,

Cloud-like it mounts, or touched with light divine

Doth melt away; but for those palms achieved,

Through length of time, by patient exercise

Of study and hard thought; there, there, it is

That sadness finds its fuel. Hitherto,

In progress through this Verse, my mind hath looked

Upon the speaking face of earth and heaven

As her prime teacher, intercourse with man

Established by the sovereign Intellect,

Who through that bodily image hath diffused,