![Composed Near Calais, On The Road Leading To Ardres, August 7, 1802: By: William Wordsworth](https://i0.wp.com/poetrycatalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Composed-Near-Calais-On-The-Road-Leading-To-Ardres-August-7-1802-By-William-Wordsworth.png?resize=750%2C420&ssl=1)
Jones! as from Calais southward you and I
Went pacing side by side, this public Way
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day,
When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty:
A homeless sound of joy was in the sky:
From hour to hour the antiquated Earth
Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth,
Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh!
And now, sole register that these things were,
Two solitary greetings have I heard,
“Good-morrow, Citizen!” a hollow word,
As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair
Touches me not, though pensive as a bird
Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare.