For when the different images of things, By chance combined, have struck the attentive soul With deeper impulse, or, connected long, Have drawn her frequent eye; howe'er distinct The external scenes, yet oft the ideas gain From that conjunction an eternal tie, And sympathy unbroken. Let the mind Recall one partner of the various league, Immediate, lo! the firm confederates rise, 320 And each his former station straight resumes: One movement governs the consenting throng, And all at once with rosy pleasure shine, Or all are sadden'd with the glooms of care. 'Twas thus, if ancient fame the truth unfold, Two faithful needles, [Endnote II] from the informing touch Of the same parent stone, together drew Its mystic virtue, and at first conspired With fatal impulse quivering to the pole: Then, though disjoin'd by kingdoms, though the main 330 Roll'd its broad surge betwixt, and different stars Beheld their wakeful motions, yet preserved The former friendship, and remember'd still The alliance of their birth: whate'er the line Which one possess'd, nor pause, nor quiet knew The sure associate, ere with trembling speed He found its path and fix'd unerring there. Such is the secret union, when we feel A song, a flower, a name, at once restore Those long-connected scenes where first they moved 340 The attention, backward through her mazy walks Guiding the wanton fancy to her scope, To temples, courts, or fields, with all the band Of painted forms, of passions and designs Attendant; whence, if pleasing in itself, The prospect from that sweet accession gains Redoubled influence o'er the listening mind.