The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
128
A POET'S LOYALTY
Not to a queen or king
Is the deep inmost spirit in me loyal,
But to the waves that sing
Round English shores, and fling
Against our fortressed rocks their mantles royal.
Is the deep inmost spirit in me loyal,
But to the waves that sing
Round English shores, and fling
Against our fortressed rocks their mantles royal.
A crowned head in my sight
Hath little import: flower-crowned hills have more;
Our cliffs and surges white,
Or blue waves soft and bright
That ripple gently on a sunlit shore.
Hath little import: flower-crowned hills have more;
Our cliffs and surges white,
Or blue waves soft and bright
That ripple gently on a sunlit shore.
No prince or ruler holds
The free land of my heart: it dwells amid
The heather-purpled wolds
And in the green woods' folds,—
Yea, 'mid the mountain-steeps my heart is hid.
The free land of my heart: it dwells amid
The heather-purpled wolds
And in the green woods' folds,—
Yea, 'mid the mountain-steeps my heart is hid.
129
England herself I own
For queen, sweet with the laughter of her sea
And grand on mountain-throne,—
She royal, she alone,
Is sovereign of my heart eternally.
For queen, sweet with the laughter of her sea
And grand on mountain-throne,—
She royal, she alone,
Is sovereign of my heart eternally.
1881.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |