Читать книгу The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne - Kathleen Thompson Norris - Страница 5

TO KATHLEEN MARY THOMPSON

Lover of books, who never fails to find

Some good in every book, your namesake sends

This book to you, knowing you always kind

To small things, timid and in need of friends.

O friend! I know not which way I must look

For comfort, being, as I am, opprest,

To think that now our life is only drest

For show; mean handy-work of craftsman, cook,

Or groom!—We must run glittering like a brook

In the open sunshine, or we are unblest;

The wealthiest man among us is the best:

No grandeur now in nature or in book

Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense,

This is idolatry; and these we adore:

Plain living and high thinking are no more:

The homely beauty of the good old cause

Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence.

And pure religion breathing household laws.

—WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.