Poems (Wordsworth, 1815)/Volume 2/Sonnet
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet (Wordsworth, "Though narrow be that Old Man's cares, and near").
VII.
SONNET.
. . . . ."gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."
Though narrow be that Old Man's cares, and near,
The poor Old Man is greater than he seems:
For he hath waking empire, wide as dreams;
An ample sovereignty of eye and ear.
Rich are his walks with supernatural cheer;
The region of his inner spirit teems
With vital sounds, and monitory gleams
Qf high astonishment and pleasing fear.
He the seven birds hath seen that never part,
Seen the Seven Whistlers in their nightly rounds,
And counted them: and oftentimes will start—
For overhead are sweeping Gabriel's Hounds,
Doomed, with their impious Lord, the flying Hart,
To chase for ever, on aërial grounds.