Celestial light

Wordsworth calls:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

    The earth, and every common sight,

                       To me did seem

                   Apparelled in celestial light,

         The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;—

                   Turn wheresoe'er I may,

                       By night or day.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

The Sunlight answers:

The meadow, grove, and stream did glow, 

Or so thy memory claims,

But is it not thy mind that paints

The gold of bygone days?

Thy heart now sings a subtler tune,

A hymn of quiet grace,

Yet no less bright, no less divine,

Though veiled by time and space.

Why must the child alone perceive

This light that gilds the air?

The only difference ’tween man and boy—

One claims to know, the other dares.

Time and past dissolve like mist

When thou release thy clasp.

The light thou seekest never dimmed—

It waits within thy grasp.