These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye;
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness sensations sweet,
Felt in the Blood, and felt among the heart.
-William Wordsworth,
Lines Composed a Few Miles
above Tintern Abbey, 1798
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Fire and Water
We went through fire and through water. -The Bible, Psalms 66:12 |
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Water and Wind
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd-- "I came like Water, and like Wind I go." -Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam |
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Cascades over Pines
Clear cascades! Into the waves scatter Blue pine needles. -Matsuo Basho, Conversations with Basho. From the Collection Kyoraisho Hyokai |
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Prayer
This used to be among my prayers. --a piece of land not so very large, which would contain a garden, and near the house a spring of ever-flowing water, and beyond these a bit of wood. -Horace, Satires, 30 BC |
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The Wise, Great, and Good
Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repeal Large codes of fraud and woe; not understood By all, but which the wise, and great, and good Interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel. -Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mont Blanc |
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A Newer World
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; The long day wanes, the low moon climbs; the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses |
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A Celestial Thought
Happy those early days! when I Shined in my angel-infancy. Before I understood this place Appointed for my second race, or taught my soul to fancy ought But a white, celestial thought, When yet I had not walked above A mile or two, from my first love, And looking back (at that short space) Could see a glimpse of his bright face; -Henry Vaughan, The Retreat, 1650 |
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The Windhover
I caught this morning morning's minion, king- dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing, As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding Stirred for a bird,--the achieve of, the mastery of the thing! -Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Windhover |
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Deep Seclusion
Once again Once again Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; -William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, 1798 |
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Silver Lake
On thy fair bosom, silver lake, The wild swan spreads his snowy sail, And round his breast the ripples break As down he bears before the gale. -James G. Percival, To Seneca Lake |