| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | After-thought | | By William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | Valedictory Sonnet to the River Duddon
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; | 5 |
| 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 | 10 |
| 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. | | | | |
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