Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/217

 "I'll brace to higher aims," said he, "I'll further Truth and Purity; Thereby to mend the mortal lot And sweeten sorrow. Thrive I not,

"Winning their hearts, my kind will give Enough that I may lowly live, And house my Love in some dim dell, For pleasing them and theirs so well."

Idly attired, with features wan, In secret swift he labored on; Such press of power had brought much gold Applied to things of meaner mould.

Sometimes he wished his aims had been To gather gains like other men; Then thanked his God he'd traced his track Too far for wish to drag him back.

He looked from his loft one day To where his slighted garden lay; Nettles and hemlock hid each lawn, And every flower was starved and gone.