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The poetical works of William Lisle Bowles

... with memoir, critical dissertation, and explanatory notes, by the Rev. George Gilfillan
Bowles, William Lisle (1762-1850)

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VOL. I.
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VOL. II.
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BANWELL HILL;
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THE GRAVE OF THE LAST SAXON;
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ST JOHN IN PATMOS.
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THE SORROWS OF SWITZERLAND.
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THE VILLAGER'S VERSE-BOOK.
  
SONG OF THE CID.
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POEMS, INEDITED, UNPUBLISHED, ETC.

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26

WOODSPRING ABBEY, 1836.

These walls were built by men who did a deed
Of blood:—terrific conscience, day by day,
Followed, where'er their shadow seemed to stay,
And still in thought they saw their victim bleed,
Before God's altar shrieking: pangs succeed,
As dire upon their heart the deep sin lay,
No tears of agony could wash away:
Hence! to the land's remotest limit, speed!
These walls are raised in vain, as vainly flows
Contrition's tear: Earth, hide them, and thou, Sea,
Which round the lone isle, where their bones repose,
Dost sound for ever, their sad requiem be,
In fancy's ear, at pensive evening's close,
Still mumuring Miserere, Domine.
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