 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
103
At Dunnabeck
With just such wings the buzzard flew,
So cuckoo called to cheer
The wild unmeditative crew
Who held their rampart here.
So cuckoo called to cheer
The wild unmeditative crew
Who held their rampart here.
So gleamed the mere, so rose the Scar
Magnificently grey,
So from its fountain-head afar
The streamlet poured away.
Magnificently grey,
So from its fountain-head afar
The streamlet poured away.
A few rough walls the shepherds make
To curb their flocks that range,
A white road glimmering by the lake,—
There is no other change.
To curb their flocks that range,
A white road glimmering by the lake,—
There is no other change.
Nor change in these transcendent powers
Of rock and lake and hill,
They spake in prehistoric hours
And they are speaking still.
Of rock and lake and hill,
They spake in prehistoric hours
And they are speaking still.
104
But since the Rydal bard was sent
To show us Nature's plan,
The bar is broke, the veil is rent
'Twixt God and Godlike man.
To show us Nature's plan,
The bar is broke, the veil is rent
'Twixt God and Godlike man.
Now whoso from this lawn would look
On hill, or lake, or grove,
May read the Spiritual book
Of universal love.
On hill, or lake, or grove,
May read the Spiritual book
Of universal love.
Oh! British holders of your ‘Dun,’
To think ye passed away
Beyond the sunset ere the sun
Had brought this blessed day!
To think ye passed away
Beyond the sunset ere the sun
Had brought this blessed day!
Ye could have given a simpler heart
And ears less deaf than mine,
To feel what Nature could impart
Of mystery divine.
And ears less deaf than mine,
To feel what Nature could impart
Of mystery divine.
Come back, come back from out your dust,
And let this scene declare,
Its revelation held in trust
For every age to share.
And let this scene declare,
Its revelation held in trust
For every age to share.
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