Poem by William Wordsworth

To B. R. Haydon

HIGH is our calling, Friend!--Creative Art
(Whether the instrument of words she use,
Or pencil pregnant with ethereal hues,)
Demands the service of a mind and heart,
Though sensitive, yet, in their weakest part,
Heroically fashioned--to infuse
Faith in the whispers of the lonely Muse,
While the whole world seems adverse to desert.
And, oh! when Nature sinks, as oft she may,
Through long-lived pressure of obscure distress,           
Still to be strenuous for the bright reward,
And in the soul admit of no decay,
Brook no continuance of weak-mindedness--
Great is the glory, for the strife is hard!

1. Upon the Sight of a Beautiful Picture Painted by Sir G. H. Beaumont, Bart
2. Stanzas Written in My Pocket Copy of Thomson’s “Castle of Indolence”
3. Alice Fell, or Poverty
4. Resolution and Independence
5. To the Memory of Raisley Calvert

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