Canto CVII

Heart-affluence in discursive talk

      From household fountains never dry;

      The critic clearness of an eye,

That saw thro' all the Muses' walk;

Seraphic intellect and force

      To seize and throw the doubts of man;

      Impassion'd logic, which outran

The bearer in its fiery course;

High nature amorous of the good,

      But touch'd with no ascetic gloom;

      And passion pure in snowy bloom

Thro' all the years of April blood;

A love of freedom rarely felt,

      Of freedom in her regal seat

      Of England, not the schoolboy heat,

The blind hysterics of the Celt;

And manhood fused with female grace

      In such a sort, the child would twine,

      A trustful hand, unasked, in thine,

And find his comfort in thy face;

All these have been, and thee mine eyes

      Have look'd on: if they look'd in vain

      My shame is greater who remain,

Nor let thy wisdom make me wise.