The Solitary lifted toward[342] the hills 505 A kindling eye:--accordant feelings rushed Into my bosom, whence these words broke forth:[343] "Oh! what a joy it were, in vigorous health, To have a body (this our vital frame With shrinking sensibility endued, 510 And all the nice regards of flesh and blood) And to the elements surrender it As if it were a spirit!--How divine, The liberty, for frail, for mortal, man To roam at large among unpeopled glens 515 And mountainous retirements, only trod By devious footsteps; regions consecrate To oldest time! and, reckless of the storm That keeps the raven quiet in her nest, Be as a presence or a motion--one 520 Among the many there; and while the mists Flying, and rainy vapours, call out shapes And phantoms from the crags and solid earth As fast as a musician scatters sounds Out of an instrument; and while the streams 525 (As at a first creation and in haste To exercise their untried faculties) Descending from the region of the clouds, And starting from the hollows of the earth More multitudinous every moment, rend 530 Their way before them--what a joy to roam An equal among mightiest energies; And haply sometimes with articulate voice, Amid the deafening tumult, scarcely heard By him that utters it, exclaim aloud, 535 'Rage on ye elements! let moon and stars Their aspects lend, and mingle in their turn With this commotion (ruinous though it be) From day to night, from night to day, prolonged!'"[344] "Yes," said the Wanderer, taking from my lips 540 The strain of transport, "whosoe'er in youth Has, through ambition of his soul, given way To such desires, and grasped at such delight, Shall feel congenial stirrings late and long,[345] In spite of all the weakness that life brings, 545 Its cares and sorrows; he, though taught to own The tranquillizing power of time, shall wake, Wake sometimes to a noble restlessness-- Loving the sports[346] which once he gloried in.