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

William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

The Mountain Echo

YES, it was the mountain Echo,

Solitary, clear, profound,

Answering to the shouting Cuckoo,

Giving to her sound for sound!

Unsolicited reply

To a babbling wanderer sent;

Like her ordinary cry,

Like—but oh, how different!

Hears not also mortal Life?

Hear not we, unthinking Creatures!

Slaves of folly, love, or strife—

Voices of two different natures?

Have not we too?—yes, we have

Answers, and we know not whence;

Echoes from beyond the grave,

Recognised intelligence!

Such rebounds our inward ear

Catches sometimes from afar—

Listen, ponder, hold them dear;

For of God,—of God they are.

(1806.)