Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/175

BOOK VI.] The blameless inmates, and belike subvert

That frame of social being, which so long

Had bodied forth the ghostliness of things

In silence visible and perpetual calm.

—"Stay, stay your sacrilegious hands!"—The voice

Was Nature's, uttered from her Alpine throne;

I heard it then and seem to hear it now—

"Your impious work forbear, perish what may,

Let this one temple last, be this one spot

Of earth devoted to eternity!"

She ceased to speak, but while St. Bruno's pines

Waved their dark tops, not silent as they waved,

And while below, along their several beds,

Murmured the sister streams of Life and Death,

Thus by conflicting passions pressed, my heart

Responded; "Honour to the patriot's zeal!

Glory and hope to new-born Liberty!

Hail to the mighty projects of the time!

Discerning sword that Justice wields, do thou

Go forth and prosper; and, ye purging fires,

Up to the loftiest towers of Pride ascend,

Fanned by the breath of angry Providence.

But oh! if Past and Future be the wings

On whose support harmoniously conjoined

Moves the great spirit of human knowledge, spare