thoughts 70
  Encouraged and dismissed, till choice was made
  Of a known Vale, [F] whither my feet should turn,
  Nor rest till they had reached the very door
  Of the one cottage [G] which methought I saw. 
  No picture of mere memory ever looked 75
  So fair; and while upon the fancied scene
  I gazed with growing love, a higher power
  Than Fancy gave assurance of some work
  Of glory there forthwith to be begun,
  Perhaps too there performed.  Thus long I mused, 80
  Nor e’er lost sight of what I mused upon,
  Save when, amid the stately groves of oaks,
  Now here, now there, an acorn, from its cup
  Dislodged, through sere leaves rustled, or at once
  To the bare earth dropped with a startling sound. 85
  From that soft couch I rose not, till the sun
  Had almost touched the horizon; casting then
  A backward glance upon the curling cloud
  Of city smoke, by distance ruralised;
  Keen as a Truant or a Fugitive, 90
  But as a Pilgrim resolute, I took,
  Even with the chance equipment of that hour,
  The road that pointed toward the chosen Vale. [F]
  It was a splendid evening, and my soul
  Once more made trial of her strength, nor lacked 95
  AEolian visitations; but the harp
  Was soon defrauded, and the banded host
  Of harmony dispersed in straggling sounds,
  And lastly utter silence!  “Be it so;
  Why think of any thing but present good?” [H] 100
  So, like a home-bound labourer I pursued
  My way beneath the mellowing sun, that shed
  Mild influence; nor left in me one wish
  Again to bend the Sabbath of that time
  To a servile yoke.  What need of many words? 105
  A pleasant loitering journey, through three days
  Continued, brought me to my hermitage, [I]
  I spare to tell of what ensued, the life
  In common things—­the endless store of things,
  Rare, or at least so seeming, every day 110
  Found all about me in one neighbourhood—­
  The self-congratulation, and, from morn
  To night, unbroken cheerfulness serene. [K]
  But speedily an earnest longing rose
  To brace myself to some determined aim, 115
  Reading or thinking; either to lay up
  New stores, or rescue from decay the old
  By timely interference:  and therewith
  Came hopes still higher, that with outward life
  I might endue some airy phantasies 120
  That had been floating loose about for years,
  And to such beings temperately deal forth
  The many feelings that oppressed my heart. 
  That hope hath been discouraged; welcome light
  Dawns from the east, but dawns to disappear 125
  And mock me with a sky that ripens not
  Into a steady morning:  if my mind,
  Remembering the bold promise of the past,
  Would gladly grapple with some noble theme,
  Vain is her wish; where’er she turns she finds 130
  Impediments from day to day renewed.