Page:The Recluse, Wordsworth, 1888.djvu/48

36 All intercourse of knowledge or of love

That parts the individual from his kind.

Whether in large communities ye keep

From year to year, not shunning man's abode,

A settled residence, or be from far

Wild creatures, and of many homes, that come

The gift of winds, and whom the winds again

Take from us at your pleasure; yet shall ye

Not want for this your own subordinate place

In my affections. Witness the delight

With which erewhile I saw that multitude

Wheel through the sky, and see them now at rest,

Yet not at rest upon the glassy lake:

They cannot rest—they gambol like young whelps;

Active as lambs, and overcome with joy

They try all frolic motions; flutter, plunge,