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Poems

By Frederick William Faber: Third edition
  

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XLIII.ON THE HEIGHTS NEAR DEVOKE WATER.

August 7, 1838.
Dreary and grey the twilight hour came on,
Duddon was sounding in his wooded vale;
And through the ferns and round each hollow stone
The spirit of the chill night-breeze did wail.
With low and piteous moaning did it swell,
Like a poor ghost, upon the shaggy fell—
When, as we rode, the sun came round and stood
On the hill-top—an altar all of gold:
Twisting in gorgeous coils, like a huge flood,
The crimson steam along the valley rolled.
Rain-drops, like gems, upon the heath were seen,
And the whole earth was hid in golden green,
O it was well our hearts within us quailed,—
The throne of the Eternal was unveiled!