Thou unassuming common-place
Of Nature, with that homely face,
And yet with something of a grace,
Which Love makes for thee !

Oft on the dappled turf at ease

I sit, and play with similes,

Loose types of things through all degrees,
Thoughts of thy raising:

5

10

Yet like a star, with glittering crest,
Self-poised in air thou seem'st to rest ;-
May peace come never to his nest,
Who shall reprove thee !

Bright flower! for by that name at last,
When all my reveries are past,

I call thee, and to that cleave fast,

Sweet silent creature!

40

That breath'st with me in sun and air,
Do thou, as thou art wont, repair

45

My heart with gladness, and a share

Of thy meek nature!

STEPPING WESTWARD.

"What, you are stepping westward?"-" Yea." -"Twould be a wildish destiny,

If we, who thus together roam

In a strange land, and far from home,
Were in this place the guests of Chance:
Yet who would stop, or fear to advance,
Though home or shelter he had none,
With such a sky to lead him on ?

5

The dewy ground was dark and cold;
Behind all gloomy to behold;
And stepping westward seemed to be
A kind of heavenly destiny:

10

I liked the greeting; 'twas a sound
Of something without place or bound;
And seemed to give me spiritual right

To travel through that region bright.

15

The voice was soft, and she who spake
Was walking by her native lake:
The salutation had to me.

The very sound of courtesy :

Its power was felt; and while my eye
Was fixed upon the glowing sky,
The echo of the voice enwrought

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A human sweetness with the thought

Of travelling through the world that lay
Before me in my endless way.

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Say, then, that he was wise as brave;
As wise in thought as bold in deed :
For in the principles of things

He sought his moral creed.

Said generous Rob, "What need of books?
Burn all the statutes and their shelves:
They stir us up against our kind;

And worse, against ourselves.

"We have a passion-make a law, Too false to guide us or control ! And for the law itself we fight

In bitterness of soul.

That they should take, who have the power,