Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

Sonnets: [Past Years of Home]

WANSFELL! this Household has a favoured lot,

Living with liberty on thee to gaze,

To watch while Morn first crowns thee with her rays,

Or when along thy breast serenely float

Evening’s angelic clouds. Yet ne’er a note

Hath sounded (shame upon the Bard!) thy praise

For all that thou, as if from heaven, hast brought

Of glory lavished on our quiet days.

Bountiful Son of Earth! when we are gone

From every object dear to mortal sight,

As soon we shall be, may these words attest

How oft, to elevate our spirits, shone

Thy visionary majesties of light,

How in thy pensive glooms our hearts found rest.

(Dec. 24, 1842.)