TO NATURE 



' IT may indeed be phantasy when I 

 Essay to draw from all created things 

 Deep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings ; 

 And trace the leaves and flowers that round me lie 

 Lessons of love and earnest piety. 

 So let it be ; and if the wide world rings 

 In mock of this belief, to me it brings 

 Nor fear, nor grief, nor vain perplexity. 

 So will I build my altar in the fields, 

 And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be, 

 And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields 

 Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee, 

 Thee only, God ! and Thou shalt not despise 

 Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice." 



S. T. COLERIDGE 



