 | The Poetical Works of Robert Story |  |
XXIII.
Fair winds and rowers stout soon brought to landOur ships on Lindisfarne's accustomed strand,
Where the good Abbot of the Holy Isle,
On promise to rebuild his ruined Pile,
With joy agreed t' administer the rite
Of baptism to each Danish proselyte.
Then marched we forth with banner and with brand,
As if to war, across the lovely land.
Peasants, in groups, on every verdant hill,
Stood to behold us passing, mute and still,
In wonder, doubtless, why such numbers then
Should seek, in arms, the Valley of the Glen—
A peaceful vale and sweet, whose every lea
Is all day rife with butterfly and bee,
As if each flower the passing summer flings
On its fair sloping banks, had taken wings!
| The Poetical Works of Robert Story | |