Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
William Wordsworth. 17701850539. Mutability
FROM low to high doth dissolution climb, | |
And sink from high to low, along a scale | |
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail; | |
A musical but melancholy chime, | |
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime, | 5 |
Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care. | |
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear | |
The longest date do melt like frosty rime, | |
That in the morning whiten’d hill and plain | |
And is no more; drop like the tower sublime | 10 |
Of yesterday, which royally did wear | |
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain | |
Some casual shout that broke the silent air, | |
Or the unimaginable touch of Time. |