Poem by James Kenneth Stephen

Wordsworth

TWO voices are there: one is of the deep;
It learns the storm-cloud's thunderous melody,
Now roars, now murmurs with the changing sea,
Now bird-like pipes, now closes soft in sleep:
And one is of an old half-witted sheep
Which bleats articulate monotony,
And indicates that two and one are three,
That grass is green, lakes damp, and mountains steep:
And, Wordsworth, both are thine: at certain times
Forth from the heart of thy melodious rhymes,
The form and pressure of high thoughts will burst:
At other times--good Lord! I'd rather be
Quite unacquainted with the A,B,C,
Than write such hopeless rubbish as thy worst.

1. After the Golden Wedding (Three Soliloquies)
2. The Last Ride Together (after Browning)
3. Steam-Launches on the Thames
4. My Education
5. The Malefactor's Plea

Henry Van Dyke Wordsworth ("Wordsworth, thy music like a river rolls")

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