Flower Pieces and other poems By William Allingham: With two designs by Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
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| IX. | IX. HEATHER. |
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 | Flower Pieces and other poems |  |
11
IX. HEATHER.
Vast barren hills and moors, cliffs over lakes,
Great headlands by the sea—a lonely land!
With Fishers' huts beside a yellow strand
Where wave on wave in foam and thunder breaks,
Or else a tranquil blue horizon takes
Sunlight and shadow. Few can understand
The poor folk's ancient tongue, sweet, simple, grand,
Wherein a dreamy old-world half awakes.
Great headlands by the sea—a lonely land!
With Fishers' huts beside a yellow strand
Where wave on wave in foam and thunder breaks,
Or else a tranquil blue horizon takes
Sunlight and shadow. Few can understand
The poor folk's ancient tongue, sweet, simple, grand,
Wherein a dreamy old-world half awakes.
And on these hills a thousand years ago
Their fathers wander'd, sun and stars for clock,
With minds to wing above and creep below;
Heard what we hear, the ocean's solemn shock,—
Saw what we see, this Heather-flow'r aglow,
Empurpling league-long slope and crested rock.
Their fathers wander'd, sun and stars for clock,
With minds to wing above and creep below;
Heard what we hear, the ocean's solemn shock,—
Saw what we see, this Heather-flow'r aglow,
Empurpling league-long slope and crested rock.
| Flower Pieces and other poems | |