PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES

By William Wordsworth

Last night, without a voice, that Vision spake

Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem

Whollydissevered from our present theme;

Yet, my beloved Country! I partake

Of kindred agitations for thy sake;

Thou, too, dost visit oftmy midnight dream;

Thyglory meets me with the earliest beam

Of light, which tells that Morning is awake.

If aught impair thybeauty or destroy,

Or but forebode destruction, I deplore

With filial love the sad vicissitude;

If thou hastfallen, and righteous Heaven restore

The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed,

And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy.