391. Character of the Happy Warrior

William Wordsworth (1770—1850)

  WHO is the happy Warrior? Who is he

  What every man in arms should wish to be?

  —It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought

  Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought

  Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought:

  Whose high endeavours are an inward light

  That makes the path before him always bright:

  Who, with a natural instinct to discern

  What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn,

  Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,

  But makes his moral being his prime care;

  Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,

  And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!

  Turns his necessity to glorious gain;

  In face of these doth exercise a power

  Which is our human nature’s highest dower;

  Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves

  Of their bad influence, and their good receives:

  By objects, which might force the soul to abate

  Her feeling, rendered more compassionate;

  Is placable—because occasions rise

  So often that demand such sacrifice;

  More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,

  As tempted more; more able to endure,

  As more exposed to suffering and distress;

  Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.

  —’Tis he whose law is reason; who depends

  Upon that law as on the best of friends;

  Whence, in a state where men are tempted still

  To evil for a guard against worse ill,

  And what in quality or act is best

  Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,

  He labours good on good to fix, and owes

  To virtue every triumph that he knows:

  —Who, if he rise to station of command,

  Rises by open means; and there will stand

  On honourable terms, or else retire,

  And in himself possess his own desire;

  Who comprehends his trust, and to the same

  Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;

  And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait

  For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state,

  Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,

  Like showers of manna, if they come at all:

  Whose power shed round him in the common strife,

  Or mild concerns of ordinary life,

  A constant influence, a peculiar grace;

  But who, if he be called upon to face

  Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined

  Great issues, good or bad for human kind,

  Is happy as a Lover; and attired

  With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;

  And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law

  In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw:

  Or if an unexpected call succeed,

  Come when it will, is equal to the need:

  —He who, though thus endued as with a sense

  And faculty for storm and turbulence,

  Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans

  To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;

  Sweet images! which, whereso’er he be,

  Are at his heart; and such fidelity

  It is his darling passion to approve;

  More brave for this, that he hath much to love:—

  ’Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,

  Conspicuous object in a Nation’s eye,

  Or left unthought-of in obscurity,—

  Who, with a toward or untoward lot,

  Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not,

  Plays, in the many games of life, that one

  Where what he most doth value must be won.

  Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,

  Nor thought of tender happiness betray;

  Who, not content that former worth stand fast,

  Looks forward, persevering to the last,

  From well to better, daily self-surpast:

  Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth

  For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,

  Or he must fall to sleep without his fame,

  And leave a dead unprofitable name,

  Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;

  And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws

  His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:

  This is the happy Warrior; this is he

  Whom every Man in arms should wish to be.