Inscriptions - Supposed To Be Found In And Near A Hermit's Cell, 1818 - I

A poem by William Wordsworth

Hopes what are they? Beads of morning
Strung on slender blades of grass;
Or a spider's web adorning
In a strait and treacherous pass.

What are fears but voices airy?
Whispering harm where harm is not;
And deluding the unwary
Till the fatal bolt is shot!

What is glory? in the socket
See how dying tapers fare!
What is pride? a whizzing rocket
That would emulate a star.

What is friendship? do not trust her,
Nor the vows which she has made;
Diamonds dart their brightest lustre
From a palsy-shaken head.

What is truth? a staff rejected;
Duty? an unwelcome clog;
Joy? a moon by fits reflected
In a swamp or watery bog;

Bright, as if through ether steering,
To the Traveller's eye it shone:
He hath hailed it re-appearing,
And as quickly it is gone;

Such is Joy, as quickly hidden,
Or mis-shapen to the sight,
And by sullen weeds forbidden
To resume its native light.

What is youth? a dancing billow,
(Winds behind, and rocks before!)
Age? a drooping, tottering willow
On a flat and lazy shore.

What is peace? when pain is over,
And love ceases to rebel,
Let the last faint sigh discover
That precedes the passing knell!