Earth hath not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
William Wordsworth: Poems in Two Volumes: Sonnet 14
I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near,
And I said,
It was noon, and on flowers that languish'd around
In silence reposed the voluptuous bee;
Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound
But the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree.
And,
I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd
Above the green elms that a cottage was near,
And I said if there's peace to be found in the world,
The heart that is humble might hope for it here.
Ev'ry leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound,
But the wood-pecker tapping the hollow beechtree.
And here in this lone little cot (I ex- claim'd,)
With a maiden attractive to heart and to eye,
Who would blush when I prais'd her,
and weep if I blam'd,
How blest could I live and how calm
could I die
Ev'ry leaf was at rest
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near,
And I said,
If there's peace to be found in the world,
A heart that is humble might hope for it here!
It was noon, and on flowers that languish'd around
In silence reposed the voluptuous bee;
Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound
But the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree.
And,
Here in this lone little wood,I exclaim'd,
With a maid who was lovely to soul and to eye,
Who would blush when I praised her, and weep if I blamed,
How blest could I live, and how calm could I die!
By the shade of yon sumach, whose red berry dips
In the gush of the fountain, how sweet to recline,
And to know that I sigh'd upon innocent lips,
Which had never been sigh'd on by any but mine!
I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd
Above the green elms that a cottage was near,
And I said if there's peace to be found in the world,
The heart that is humble might hope for it here.
Ev'ry leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound,
But the wood-pecker tapping the hollow beechtree.
And here in this lone little cot (I ex- claim'd,)
With a maiden attractive to heart and to eye,
Who would blush when I prais'd her,
and weep if I blam'd,
How blest could I live and how calm
could I die
Ev'ry leaf was at rest
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