The Mountain Fringe, 



ADLUMIA CIRRHOSA, Raf. 



For I have learned 

 To look on Nature, not as in the hour 

 Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes 

 The still, sad music of humanity. 

 Nor harsh, nor grating, though of ample power 

 To chasten and subdue. And I have felt 

 A presence that disturbs me with the joy 

 Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime 

 Of something far more deeply interfused, 

 Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 

 And the round ocean and the living air. 

 And the blue sky, and in the mind of man. 



Therefore am I still 

 A lover of the meadows and the woods. 

 And mountains ; and of all that we behold 

 From this green earth; of all the mighty world 

 Of eye, and ear, — both what they half create. 

 And what perceive; well pleased to recognize 

 In Nature and the language of the sense. 

 The anchor of my purest thoughts ; the nurse, 

 The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul 

 Of all my moral being. — Woi'dsworth. 



