 | The sentence of Kaires and other poems |  |
56
XIX. FAREWELL TO GRASMERE.
Full many a sad and bitter word
There is to hear and tell,
But the saddest and the bitterest
Is still to say, Farewell!
There is to hear and tell,
But the saddest and the bitterest
Is still to say, Farewell!
Full many a soft and dimpled lake
Laughs in the sun's bright eye,
By Alpine height, by Cambrian wild,
'Neath Caledonia's sky.
Laughs in the sun's bright eye,
By Alpine height, by Cambrian wild,
'Neath Caledonia's sky.
But O, had I a home to choose,
Far rather would I dwell
By the streamlets and the peat-stained rocks
Of Loughrigg's breezy fell.
Far rather would I dwell
By the streamlets and the peat-stained rocks
Of Loughrigg's breezy fell.
The mountains gleam entablatured
On waveless Grasmere sleeping,
And the rain-washed bushes round the marge,
Like dark-robed nuns are weeping.
On waveless Grasmere sleeping,
And the rain-washed bushes round the marge,
Like dark-robed nuns are weeping.
57
The shadows, O how silently
O'er Dumail Race they glide,
And Helm Crag rears his mist-wreathed head
Like a lion in his pride.
O'er Dumail Race they glide,
And Helm Crag rears his mist-wreathed head
Like a lion in his pride.
The Rothay steals, how noiselessly,
Beneath that bridgeway shade,
Where the relics of the mountain bard
In holy ground are laid .
Beneath that bridgeway shade,
Where the relics of the mountain bard
In holy ground are laid .
Oh, might the too presumptuous thought
A moment be forgiven,
Sure, such a dream of loveliness
Our fancy pictures heaven.
A moment be forgiven,
Sure, such a dream of loveliness
Our fancy pictures heaven.
Farewell, farewell, O I could weep
To leave thy fern-clad hills,
And to miss the sweet vibration of
The music of thy rills.
To leave thy fern-clad hills,
And to miss the sweet vibration of
The music of thy rills.
Farewell, farewell, the saddest word,
But yet it must be spoken,
Though daily at that farewell word
The hearts of men are broken.
But yet it must be spoken,
Though daily at that farewell word
The hearts of men are broken.
| The sentence of Kaires and other poems | |