The World Is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers —

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; —

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.