Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/138

116 Or sleeping nameless in their scattered graves,

That I should here assert their rights, attest

Their honours, and should, once for all, pronounce

Their benediction; speak of them as Powers

For ever to be hallowed; only less,

For what we are and what we may become,

Than Nature's self, which is the breath of God,

Or His pure Word by miracle revealed.

Rarely and with reluctance would I stoop

To transitory themes; yet I rejoice,

And, by these thoughts admonished, will pour out

Thanks with uplifted heart, that I was reared

Safe from an evil which these days have laid

Upon the children of the land, a pest

That might have dried me up, body and soul.

This verse is dedicate to Nature's self,

And things that teach as Nature teaches: then,

Oh! where had been the Man, the Poet where,

Where had we been, we two, beloved Friend!

If in the season of unperilous choice,

In lieu of wandering, as we did, through vales

Rich with indigenous produce, open ground

Of Fancy, happy pastures ranged at will,

We had been followed, hourly watched, and noosed,