In Cornwall and Across the Sea With Poems Written in Devonshire. By Douglas B. W. Sladen |
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CORNWALL. |
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 | In Cornwall and Across the Sea |  |
CORNWALL.
Cornwall, thou rivallest the border-land
In the romance, which thrills the poet's heart:
Indeed a border-land thyself thou art,
Where British Douglases did stoutly stand
'Gainst Saxon Percies—wouldest have as grand
A roll of ballad-heroes on thy part
If only the true tale of what thou wert
Had not been blurred with Time's obscuring hand
In the long centuries, like the granite stone
On tombs in thine old churchyards. Lyonnesse,
Tintagel, maybe Camelot, are thine own:
And on thine uplands lingered the impress
Of pixy, giant, exorcist so long
That still they leaven cottage tale and song.
In the romance, which thrills the poet's heart:
Indeed a border-land thyself thou art,
Where British Douglases did stoutly stand
'Gainst Saxon Percies—wouldest have as grand
A roll of ballad-heroes on thy part
If only the true tale of what thou wert
Had not been blurred with Time's obscuring hand
In the long centuries, like the granite stone
On tombs in thine old churchyards. Lyonnesse,
Tintagel, maybe Camelot, are thine own:
And on thine uplands lingered the impress
Of pixy, giant, exorcist so long
That still they leaven cottage tale and song.
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II.
Nor hast thou only legend and romance:For does not dusty board, in wayside fane,
Oft to the antiquary's search make plain
How stoutly Cornish halberds did advance
King Charles's cause? And where could artist glance
On boulders like Treen's Castle-of-the-Dane,
Or mightier billows rolling from the main
Than those which hurl their winter puissance
Against Tintagel and the Land's-end cliffs,
While from the dim recesses of thine heart
The stream of wealth has risen, since the skiffs
Of the Phœnicians took that to the mart
Which gave those islands of the northern seas
Their ancient name of Cassiterides.
| In Cornwall and Across the Sea | |