Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/633
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Of my own wish ; and feel past doubt
That my submissiveness was choice :
Not seeking in the school of pride
For 'precepts over dignified,'
Denial and restraint I prize
No farther than they breed a second Will more wise.
Stern Lawgiver ! yet thou dost wear The Godhead's most benignant grace; Nor know we anything so fair As is the smile upon thy face : Flowers laugh before thee on their beds, And fragrance in thy footing treads ; Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong; And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong.
To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee : I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
O, let my weakness have an end !
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice ;
The confidence of reason give;
And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!
The Rainbow Y heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky : So was it when my life began ; So is it now I am a man ; So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die !
The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
�� �
