Lines Written On A Blank Leaf In A Copy Of The Author’s Poem "The Excursion,"

A poem by William Wordsworth

Upon Hearing Of The Death Of The Late Vicar Of Kendal

To public notice, with reluctance strong,
Did I deliver this unfinished Song;
Yet for one happy issue; and I look
With self-congratulation on the Book
Which pious, learned, MURFITT saw and read;
Upon my thoughts his saintly Spirit fed;
He conned the new-born Lay with grateful heart
Foreboding not how soon he must depart;
Unsweeting that to him the joy was given
Which good men take with them from earth to heaven.