 | A book of Bristol sonnets |  |
61
ASHTON CLUMP AND LANSDOWN.
They stand like clustered counsellors, the trees,That know not age, and were not ever young,
Hushed till the storm awakes, and then their tongue
Is loud and earnest on the varying breeze!
And their dominion is of sunny leas,
Where at the mower's heel the grasses sprung,
Where the soft-hearted western wind has flung
Dew for the kine, and honey for the bees!
High on an hill, one half the parliament,
They commune hold with Lansdown all the year.
Their messages upon the sunbeams sent,
Their high decisions do the swallows bear;
Till the hot axe of rude reform assail,
The Lords and Commons of the Avon vale!
| A book of Bristol sonnets | |