to infuse Faith in the whispers of the lonely Muse

To B. R. Haydon, Esq.

 

High is our calling, Friend! - Creative Art 

(Whether the instrument of words she use, 

Or pencil pregnant with etherial hues,)
Demands the service of a mind and heart, 

Though sensitive, yet, in their weakest part, 

Heroically fashioned — to infuse 

Faith in the whispers of the lonely Muse, 

While the whole world seems adverse to desert:
And, oh! when Nature sinks, as oft she may, 

Through long-lived pressure of obscure distress, 

Still to be strenuous for the bright reward, 

And in the soul admit of no decay, —
Brook no continuance of weak-mindedness: —

Great is the glory, for the strife is hard! 

 

[William Wordsworth {1770-1850}, from Selected Poems]