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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  539. Mutability

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

539. 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.