Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy, But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy; The youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. VI. Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, And, even with something of a mother's mind, And no unworthy aim, The homely nurse doth all she can To make her foster-child, her inmate man, Forget the glories he hath known, And that imperial palace whence he came. VII. Behold the child among his newborn blisses, A six years' darling of a pygmy size! See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies, Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses, With light upon him from his father's eyes! See, at his feet, some little plan or chart, Some fragment from his dream of human life, Shaped by himself with newlylearned art; A wedding or a festival, And this hath now his heart, And unto this he frames his song: Then will he fit his tongue To dialogues of business, love, or strife; www The thought of our past years in me doth breed Perpetual benedictions: not indeed For that which is most worthy to be blest; Delight and liberty, the simple creed Of childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast: Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise; But for those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings; Blank misgivings of a creature Moving about in worlds not realized, High instincts, before which our mortal nature Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised: But for those first affections, Those shadowy recollections, Which, be they what they may, Are yet the fountain light of all our day, Are yet a master light of all our seeing; Uphold Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal silence: truths that wake, To perish never; Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavor, Nor man nor boy, Hence, in a season of calm weather, Which brought us hither, Can in a moment travel thither, And see the children sport upon the shore, And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore. IX. O' joy! that in our embers Is something that doth live, That Nature yet remembers What was so fugitive! X. Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song! And let the young lambs bound My share! No deed of house or spreading lands, As I had dreamed; no measure Heaped up with gold; my elder brother's hands Had never held such treasure. Foxes have holes, and birds in nests are fed: My brother had not where to lay his head. My share! The right like him to know all pain Which hearts are made for knowing; The right to find in loss the surest gain; To reap my joy from sowing In bitter tears; the right with him to keep A watch by day and night with all who weep. My share! To-day men call it grief and death; I see the joy and life to-morrow; I thank my Father with my every breath, For this sweet legacy of sorrow; And through my tears I call to each "joint heir With Christ, make haste to ask him for thy share." |