THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)

ON THE SAME SUBJECT

Composed 1840.--Published 1842

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Though I beheld at first with blank surprise

This Work, I now have gazed on it so long

I see its truth with unreluctant eyes;

O, my Belovèd! I have done thee wrong,

Conscious of blessedness, but, whence it sprung,

Ever too heedless, as I now perceive:

Morn into noon did pass, noon into eve,

And the old day was welcome as the young,

As welcome, and as beautiful--in sooth

More beautiful, as being a thing more holy:

Thanks to thy virtues, to the eternal youth

Of all thy goodness, never melancholy;

To thy large heart and humble mind, that cast

Into one vision, future, present, past.[213]

[213] Compare--

O dearer far than light and life are dear (1824).

Let other bards of angels sing (1824).

Such age how beautiful! O Lady bright (1827).

What heavenly smiles! O Lady mine (1845).

ED.