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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  538. Valedictory Sonnet to the River Duddon

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

William Wordsworth. 1770–1850

538. Valedictory Sonnet to the River Duddon

I THOUGHT of Thee, my partner and my guide, 
  As being pass’d 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.