English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 406. When I Have Borne |
| | | William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
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| WHEN I have borne in memory what has tamed | |
| Great nations; how ennobling thoughts depart | |
| When men change swords for ledgers, and desert | |
| The student’s bower for gold,—some fears unnamed | |
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| I had, my Country!—am I to be blamed? | 5 |
| Now, when I think of thee, and what thou art, | |
| Verily, in the bottom of my heart | |
| Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed. | |
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| For dearly must we prize thee; we who find | |
| In thee a bulwark for the cause of men; | 10 |
| And I by my affection was beguiled: | |
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| What wonder if a Poet now and then, | |
| Among the many movements of his mind, | |
| Felt for thee as a lover or a child! | |
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