Animal Tranquility And Decay

The little hedgerow birds,

That peck along the roads, regard him not.

He travels on, and in his face, his step,

His gait, is one expression: every limb,

His look and bending figure, all bespeak

A man who does not move with pain, but moves

With thought.—He is insensibly subdued

To settled quiet: he is one by whom

All effort seems forgotten; one to whom

Long patience hath such mild composure given,

That patience now doth seem a thing of which

He hath no need. He is by nature led

To peace so perfect that the young behold

With envy, what the Old Man hardly feels.

A SKETCH.Extra lines - found @: http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/lyrical-ballads-vol1/3/--I asked him whither he was bound, and whatThe object of his journey; he repliedThat he was going many miles to takeA last leave of his son, a mariner,Who from a sea-fight had been brought to Falmouth,And there was lying in an hospital.