What though on hamely fare we dine, Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, A man's a man for a' that! For a' that, and a' that, Their tinsel show, and a' that; The honest man, though e'er sae poor, Is king o' men for a' that. Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; Though hundreds worship at his word, He's but a coof for a' that; For a' that, and a' that, His ribband, star, and a' that; The man of independent mind, A prince can make a belted knight, But an honest man's aboon his might, Guid faith, he maunna fa' that. Their dignities, and a' that; The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that, That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth, For a' that, and a' that, It's comin' yet, for a' that, THERE ODE ON IMMORTALITY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH HERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, To me did seem Appareled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. Turn wheresoe'er I may, By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more! The rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose; The moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare; Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there has passed away a glory from the earth. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief; The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity, And with the heart of May Doth every beast keep holiday! Thou child of joy. Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy shepherd boy! Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the call Ye to each other make; I see The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee; My heart is at your festival, My head hath its coronal; The fullness of your bliss, I feel — I feel it all. Oh, evil day! If I were sullen While the earth herself is adorning And the children are pulling, On every side, In a thousand valleys far and wide, And the babe leaps up on his mother's arm: But there's a tree, of many, one, A single field which I have look'd upon, Doth the same tale repeat. Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream? Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: And cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home. Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy. But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, The youth, who daily farther from the east And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the man perceives it die away, Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, And, even with something of a mother's mind, And no unworthy aim, The homely nurse doth all she can To make her foster-child, her inmate man, Forget the glories he hath known, And that imperial palace whence he came. Behold the child among his new-born blisses, A mourning or a funeral; And this hath now his heart, And unto this he frames his song: To dialogues of business, love, or strife; But it will not be long Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride The little actor cons another part, Filling from time to time his "humorous stage" With all the persons down to palsied age, That life brings with her in her equipage; |