Sonnets at the English Lakes | ||
xv
INTRODUCTORY.
Blow foul or fair, the hand that fashioned theeBeat at a village forge each separate nail,
Thrashed out at home the hemp to spin thy sail,
From the near wood has borrowed every tree:
Thy keel may only know an inland sea;
If changing skies should send an adverse gale
Thou hast, frail bark, on board no single bale
That thou canst give to hold the wind in fee:
Yet haply on thy decks a child shall stand
To veer thy sail, to hold the rudder band;
By verdurous shores thou may'st in Spring-time take
Old limbs that need the sun, sad hearts that ache;
And they of thy rude fashioning who ask,
Will speed thy venture for its friendly task.
Sonnets at the English Lakes | ||