 | The Poetical Works of Robert Story |  |
128
Wethercote Cave.
1833.
[_]
[This is a remarkable fissure in a rock, rather than a cave, into which a torrent is constantly poured. I was forcibly struck with the contrast between this scene of noise and tumult, and the quiet and silence of the church and churchyard of Chapel-le-Dale, which are within a little distance of it.]
This rugged descent, and this horror sublime,
The gloom of these caves excavàted by Time;
This far fall of waters which, crushed by their fall,
Are hovering—in mist—round each moss-covered wall;
The roar of their tortures, ere upward they swell
Over rocks that seem tinted with colours of Hell!—
And these shadows shall lour, and these waters shall rave,
Till the last trumpet echoes o'er Wethercote cave!
The gloom of these caves excavàted by Time;
This far fall of waters which, crushed by their fall,
Are hovering—in mist—round each moss-covered wall;
The roar of their tortures, ere upward they swell
Over rocks that seem tinted with colours of Hell!—
And these shadows shall lour, and these waters shall rave,
Till the last trumpet echoes o'er Wethercote cave!
What calmer, what holier emotions prevail
In the breast that beholds thee, sweet Chapel-le-Dale!
And O! when I think on the struggle, the strife,
The pomp, and the pride, and the nonsense of life,
And know that all ends, when the turmoil is past,
In the quiet and calm of the churchyard at last,—
The toils of the learned, and the feats of the brave,
Seem the vain noise of waters in Wethercote cave!
In the breast that beholds thee, sweet Chapel-le-Dale!
And O! when I think on the struggle, the strife,
The pomp, and the pride, and the nonsense of life,
And know that all ends, when the turmoil is past,
In the quiet and calm of the churchyard at last,—
The toils of the learned, and the feats of the brave,
Seem the vain noise of waters in Wethercote cave!
| The Poetical Works of Robert Story | |