By Severn Sea and Other Poems | ||
44
FOR ------
LEAVING GRAYTHWAITE BY WINDERMERE
Dear the gray walls hid in the greenwood side
Cresting the sunny shore,
That sleeping sees the snowy canvas glide
And hears the oar;
Cresting the sunny shore,
That sleeping sees the snowy canvas glide
And hears the oar;
Dear the swift stream that tumbling through the glen
Scurries across the mead,
Fit emblem of the restless life of men
With peace to end its speed;
Scurries across the mead,
Fit emblem of the restless life of men
With peace to end its speed;
Dear the high moor with purple heath o'erblown,
With bracken and with ling,
Haunts only to the screaming plover known
Or the wild hawk's wide wing;
With bracken and with ling,
Haunts only to the screaming plover known
Or the wild hawk's wide wing;
There lonely straying ofttimes have I vowed
My friendship to the rill,
Or sworn me sister to the wandering cloud
Or far-off solemn hill.
My friendship to the rill,
Or sworn me sister to the wandering cloud
Or far-off solemn hill.
45
Ah sheltering garden of my girlhood's day,
Ah vocal solitude,
Into the world of men I take my way
With all its murmurs rude;
Ah vocal solitude,
Into the world of men I take my way
With all its murmurs rude;
Your charmèd woods I leave, yet ere I go
Into the hum and strife
May something of your tranquil beauty flow
And pass into my life!
Into the hum and strife
May something of your tranquil beauty flow
And pass into my life!
So when I weary with the stifling breath
And deafen with the noise,
Shall come to save me from the spirit's death
The memory of your joys;
And deafen with the noise,
Shall come to save me from the spirit's death
The memory of your joys;
Tired of the town my fancy's feet shall tread
Once more the upland sod,
And lead once more the days my childhood led
With Nature and with God.
Once more the upland sod,
And lead once more the days my childhood led
With Nature and with God.
By Severn Sea and Other Poems | ||