Floating Island at Hawkshead
Floating Island at Hawkshead
Dorothy Wordsworth
Harmonious Powers with Nature work
On sky, earth, river, lake, and sea:
Brass, though a thousand years they lurk,
Yet have no power o'er thee.
Breaks the foam rippled, restless stream;
Along its bank the rushes swung;
The mouldered reed in pieces torn,
And twisted roots entang'ling flung
To and fro, when winds blow hard,
Beneath the rippling wave they sleep;
Did not the wild duck's cry from bank
The boat-man's step from slumber keep.
But if some kindred thought be stirred,
Some distant brook or greenwood heard,
The spirit born of moving wave
Was not for sorrow nor for grave.
Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.
Published in Poems by Reverend William Wordsworth, 1842.
