THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)

"FOUR FIERY STEEDS IMPATIENT OF THE REIN"

Composed 1835.--Published 1835

[Suggested on the road between Preston and Lancaster where it first gives a view of the Lake country, and composed on the same day, on the roof of the coach.--I.F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Four fiery steeds impatient of the rein

Whirled us o'er sunless ground beneath a sky

As void of sunshine, when, from that wide plain,

Clear tops of far-off mountains we descry,

Like a Sierra of cerulean Spain,

All light and lustre. Did no heart reply?

Yes, there was One;--for One, asunder fly

The thousand links of that ethereal chain;

And green vales open out, with grove and field,

And the fair front of many a happy Home;

Such tempting spots as into vision come

While Soldiers, weary of the arms they wield

And sick at heart[50] of strifeful Christendom,

Gaze on the moon by parting clouds revealed.

[50] 1837.

While Soldiers, of the weapons that they wield

Weary, and sick of strifeful ... 1835.