The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker Edited from the original manuscripts and annotated copies together with a prefatory notice and bibliography by Alfred Wallis |
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THE WESTERN SHORE. |
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 | The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker |  |
THE WESTERN SHORE.
“Nunc scio quid sit amor, duris in cotibus illum.”
MDCCCXL.
Thou lovely land! where, kindling, throng
Scenes that should breathe the soul of song;
Home of high hopes that once were mine
Of loftier verse and nobler line!
Scenes that should breathe the soul of song;
Home of high hopes that once were mine
Of loftier verse and nobler line!
'Tis past—the quench'd volcano's tide
Sleeps well within the mountain-side;
Henceforth shall time's cold touch control
The warring Hecla of my soul.
Sleeps well within the mountain-side;
Henceforth shall time's cold touch control
The warring Hecla of my soul.
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Welcome! wild rock and lonely shore,
Where round my days dark seas shall roar;
And thy gray fane, Morwenna, stand
The beacon of the Eternal Land!
Where round my days dark seas shall roar;
And thy gray fane, Morwenna, stand
The beacon of the Eternal Land!
My glebe occupies a position of wild and singular beauty: its western boundary is the sea, skirted by tall and tremendous cliffs, and near their brink, with the exquisite taste of Ecclesiastical antiquity, is placed the church. The original and proper designation of the parish is Morwenstow—that is, Morwenna's Stow or Station—but it has been corrupted by recent usage, like many other local names. Halfway down a precipitous cliff near the church there still survives, with its perpetual water but ruined walls, the Well of Morwenna, an old baptismal fount; and another, the vicarage Well of St. John, is used in the church in regeneration to this day.
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