Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace, And I be undeluded, unbetrayed; For if of our affections none finds [1] grace In sight of Heaven, then, wherefore hath God made The world which we inhabit? Better plea 5 Love cannot have, than that in loving thee Glory to that eternal Peace is paid, Who such divinity to thee imparts As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts. His hope is treacherous only whose love dies 10 With beauty, which is varying every hour; But, in chaste hearts uninfluenced by the power Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower, That breathes on earth the air of paradise. * * * * * VARIANT ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1849. ... find ... 1807.] * * * * * FROM THE SAME Translated 1805?--Published 1807 One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--Ed. II No mortal object did these eyes behold When first they met the placid light of thine, And my Soul felt her destiny divine, [1] And hope of endless peace in me grew bold: Heaven-born, the Soul a heaven-ward course must hold; 5 Beyond the visible world she soars to seek (For what delights the sense is false and weak) Ideal Form, the universal mould. The wise man, I affirm, can find no rest In that which perishes: nor will he lend 10 His heart to aught which doth on time depend. 'Tis sense, unbridled will, and not true love, That [2] kills the soul: love betters what is best, Even here below, but more in heaven above. * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1807. When first saluted by the light of thine, When my soul ... MS. letter to Sir George Beaumont.] [Variant 2: 1827. Which ... 1807.] * * * * * FROM THE SAME. TO THE SUPREME BEING Translated 1804?--Published 1807 One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--Ed. III The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed If Thou the spirit give by which I pray: My unassisted heart is barren clay, That [1] of its native self can nothing feed: Of good and pious works thou art the seed, 5 That [2] quickens only where thou say'st it may. Unless Thou shew to us thine own true way No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead. Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind By which such virtue may in me be bred 10 That in thy holy footsteps I may tread; The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind, That I may have the power to sing of thee, And sound thy praises everlastingly. * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1827. Which ... 1807.] [Variant 2: 1827. Which ... 1807.]