"With Nature never do they wage
A foolish strife; they see
A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free:
"But we are press'd by heavy laws;
And often, glad no more,
We wear a face of joy, because
We have been glad of yore.
A foolish strife; they see
A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free:
"But we are press'd by heavy laws;
And often, glad no more,
We wear a face of joy, because
We have been glad of yore.
Golden Treasury
WORDSWORTH.
282. THE FOUNTAIN.
_A Conversation. _
We talk'd with open heart, and tongue
Affectionate and true,
A pair of friends, though I was young,
And Matthew seventy-two.
We lay beneath a spreading oak,
Beside a mossy seat;
And from the turf a fountain broke
And gurgled at our feet.
"Now, Matthew! " said I "let us match
This water's pleasant tune
With some old border song, or catch
That suits a summer's noon.
"Or of the church-clock and the chimes
Sing here beneath the shade
That half-mad thing of witty rhymes
Which you last April made! "
In silence Matthew lay, and eyed
The spring beneath the tree;
And thus the dear old man replied,
The gray-hair'd man of glee:
"No check, no stay, this Streamlet fears,
How merrily it goes!
'Twill murmur on a thousand years
And flow as now it flows.
"And here, on this delightful day
I cannot choose but think
How oft, a vigorous man, I lay
Beside this fountain's brink.
"My eyes are dim with childish tears,
My heart is idly stirr'd,
For the same sound is in my ears
Which in those days I heard.
"Thus fares it still in our decay:
And yet the wiser mind
Mourns less for what Age takes away,
Than what it leaves behind.
"The blackbird amid leafy trees--
The lark above the hill,
Let loose their carols when they please,
Are quiet when they will.
"With Nature never do they wage
A foolish strife; they see
A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free:
"But we are press'd by heavy laws;
And often, glad no more,
We wear a face of joy, because
We have been glad of yore.
"If there be one who need bemoan
His kindred laid in earth,
The household hearts that were his own,--
It is the man of mirth.
"My days, my friend, are almost gone,
My life has been approved,
And many love me; but by none
Am I enough beloved. "
"Now both himself and me he wrongs,
The man who thus complains!
I live and sing my idle songs
Upon these happy plains:
"And Matthew, for thy children dead
I'll be a son to thee! "
At this he grasp'd my hand and said,
"Alas! that cannot be. "
We rose up from the fountain-side;
And down the smooth descent
Of the green sheep-track did we glide
And through the wood we went;
And, ere we came to Leonard's Rock,
He sang those witty rhymes
About the crazy old church-clock,
And the bewilder'd chimes.
W. WORDSWORTH.
283. THE RIVER OF LIFE.
The more we live, more brief appear
Our life's succeeding stages:
A day to childhood seems a year,
And years like passing ages.
The gladsome current of our youth
Ere passion yet disorders,
Steals lingering like a river smooth
Along its grassy borders.
But as the careworn cheek grows wan,
And sorrow's shafts fly thicker,
Ye Stars, that measure life to man,
Why seem your courses quicker?
When joys have lost their bloom and breath
And life itself is vapid,
Why, as we reach the Falls of Death,
Feel we its tide more rapid?
282. THE FOUNTAIN.
_A Conversation. _
We talk'd with open heart, and tongue
Affectionate and true,
A pair of friends, though I was young,
And Matthew seventy-two.
We lay beneath a spreading oak,
Beside a mossy seat;
And from the turf a fountain broke
And gurgled at our feet.
"Now, Matthew! " said I "let us match
This water's pleasant tune
With some old border song, or catch
That suits a summer's noon.
"Or of the church-clock and the chimes
Sing here beneath the shade
That half-mad thing of witty rhymes
Which you last April made! "
In silence Matthew lay, and eyed
The spring beneath the tree;
And thus the dear old man replied,
The gray-hair'd man of glee:
"No check, no stay, this Streamlet fears,
How merrily it goes!
'Twill murmur on a thousand years
And flow as now it flows.
"And here, on this delightful day
I cannot choose but think
How oft, a vigorous man, I lay
Beside this fountain's brink.
"My eyes are dim with childish tears,
My heart is idly stirr'd,
For the same sound is in my ears
Which in those days I heard.
"Thus fares it still in our decay:
And yet the wiser mind
Mourns less for what Age takes away,
Than what it leaves behind.
"The blackbird amid leafy trees--
The lark above the hill,
Let loose their carols when they please,
Are quiet when they will.
"With Nature never do they wage
A foolish strife; they see
A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free:
"But we are press'd by heavy laws;
And often, glad no more,
We wear a face of joy, because
We have been glad of yore.
"If there be one who need bemoan
His kindred laid in earth,
The household hearts that were his own,--
It is the man of mirth.
"My days, my friend, are almost gone,
My life has been approved,
And many love me; but by none
Am I enough beloved. "
"Now both himself and me he wrongs,
The man who thus complains!
I live and sing my idle songs
Upon these happy plains:
"And Matthew, for thy children dead
I'll be a son to thee! "
At this he grasp'd my hand and said,
"Alas! that cannot be. "
We rose up from the fountain-side;
And down the smooth descent
Of the green sheep-track did we glide
And through the wood we went;
And, ere we came to Leonard's Rock,
He sang those witty rhymes
About the crazy old church-clock,
And the bewilder'd chimes.
W. WORDSWORTH.
283. THE RIVER OF LIFE.
The more we live, more brief appear
Our life's succeeding stages:
A day to childhood seems a year,
And years like passing ages.
The gladsome current of our youth
Ere passion yet disorders,
Steals lingering like a river smooth
Along its grassy borders.
But as the careworn cheek grows wan,
And sorrow's shafts fly thicker,
Ye Stars, that measure life to man,
Why seem your courses quicker?
When joys have lost their bloom and breath
And life itself is vapid,
Why, as we reach the Falls of Death,
Feel we its tide more rapid?
