Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/339

 BOOK TWELFTH.

IMAGINATION AND TASTE, HOW IMPAIRED AND RESTORED.

time have human ignorance and guilt

Detained us, on what spectacles of woe

Compelled to look, and inwardly oppressed

With sorrow, disappointment, vexing thoughts,

Confusion of the judgment, zeal decayed,

And, lastly, utter loss of hope itself

And things to hope for! Not with these began

Our song, and not with these our song must end.—

Ye motions of delight, that haunt the sides

Of the green hills; ye breezes and soft airs,

Whose subtle intercourse with breathing flowers,

Feelingly watched, might teach Man's haughty race

How without injury to take, to give

Without offence; ye who, as if to show

The wondrous influence of power gently used,