All praise the Likeness by thy skill portrayed;[211] But ’tis a fruitless task to paint for me, Who, yielding not to changes Time has made, By the habitual light of memory see Eyes unbedimmed, see bloom that cannot fade, 5 And smiles that from their birth-place ne’er shall flee Into the land where ghosts and phantoms be; And, seeing this, own nothing in its stead. Couldst thou go back into far-distant years, Or share with me, fond thought! that inward eye,[212] 10 Then, and then only, Painter! could thy Art The visual powers of Nature satisfy, Which hold, whate’er to common sight appears, Their sovereign empire in a faithful heart. [211] Miss Gillies told me that she visited Rydal Mount in 1841, at the invitation of the Wordsworths, to make a miniature portrait of the poet on ivory, which had been commissioned by Mr. Moon, the publisher, for the purpose of engraving. An engraving of this portrait was published on the 6th of August 1841. The original is now in America. I think she must have been wrong in her memory of the year, which was 1840. Miss Gillies also told me that the Wordsworths were so pleased with what she had done for Mr. Moon that they wished a replica for themselves, with Mrs. Wordsworth added. She painted this; and a copy of it, subsequently taken for Miss Quillinan, was long in her possession at Loughrigg Holme. It now belongs to Mr. Gordon Wordsworth. It is to the portrait of Mrs. Wordsworth that this sonnet and the next refer.--ED. [212] Compare the lines in vol. iii. p. 5-- They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude. The fact that these two lines had been added by Mrs. Wordsworth (see note to the poem, p. 7) was doubtless remembered by the poet, when he wrote this sonnet suggested by her portrait.--ED. ON THE SAME SUBJECT Composed 1840.--Published 1842 One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”--ED. Though I beheld at first with blank surprise This Work, I now have gazed on it so long I see its truth with unreluctant eyes; O, my Belovèd! I have done thee wrong, Conscious of blessedness, but, whence it sprung, 5 Ever too heedless, as I now perceive: Morn into noon did pass, noon into eve, And the old day was welcome as the young, As welcome, and as beautiful--in sooth More beautiful, as being a thing more holy: 10 Thanks to thy virtues, to the eternal youth Of all thy goodness, never melancholy; To thy large heart and humble mind, that cast Into one vision, future, present, past.[213] [213] Compare-- O dearer far than light and life are dear (1824). Let other bards of angels sing (1824). Such age how beautiful! O Lady bright (1827). What heavenly smiles! O Lady mine (1845). ED. POOR ROBIN[214] Composed March 1840.--Published 1842