Sonnets from The River Duddon: After-Thought

Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide, Arthur Streeton, 1890

by William Wordsworth

I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide,
As being past away.—Vain sympathies!
For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes,
I see what was, and is, and will abide;
Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
The Form remains, the Function never dies;
While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise,
We Men, who in our morn of youth defied
The elements, must vanish;—be it so!
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour;
And if, as toward the silent tomb we go,
Through love, through hope, and faith’s transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know.

Poem first published in 1820.

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About the Author:

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was an English poet.