Stepping Westward - by William Wordsworth

"What, you are stepping westward?" -- "Yea."

'Twould be a wildish destiny

If we who thus together roam

In a strange land and far from home,

Were in this place the guests of Chance :

Yet who would stop, or fear to advance,

Though home or shelter he had none,

With such a sky to lead him on ?

The dewy ground was dark and cold ;

Behind, all gloomy to behold ;

And stepping westward seemed to be

A kind of heavenly destiny :

I liked the greeting ; 'twas a sound

Of something without place or bound ;

And seemed to give me spiritual right

To travel through that region bright.

The voice was soft, and she who spake

Was walking by her native lake :

The salutation had to me

The very sound of courtesy :

Its power was felt ; and while my eye
Was fixed upon the glowing Sky,

The echo of the voice enwrought

A human sweetness with the thought

Of travelling through the world that lay

Before me in my endless way.

(Photo: Wings in the Wind by A. E. Marty)