 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
109
At Buck Castle
The Prehistoric Fort of Refuge at the head of Shoulthwaite Ghyll.
Here, in old days of war and lust and loss,
There stood, in fear, the prehistoric men
Who tracked the elk to yonder Shoulthwaite Moss,
And scared the wolf of Armboth to his den.
There stood, in fear, the prehistoric men
Who tracked the elk to yonder Shoulthwaite Moss,
And scared the wolf of Armboth to his den.
But though for them a horror as of blood
Lay on the purple heather at their feet,
At least they felt the August sun was good,
And heard the waterfall and called it sweet.
Lay on the purple heather at their feet,
At least they felt the August sun was good,
And heard the waterfall and called it sweet.
They had no thirst for conquest over sea,
Nor knew the hunger of Imperial Rome;
Enough to wander on this upland lea,
The stream, the fell, the fort, were all their home.
Nor knew the hunger of Imperial Rome;
Enough to wander on this upland lea,
The stream, the fell, the fort, were all their home.
But none the less when on Helvellyn's height
The watchmen told of foray from afar,
Heroes till death they ranged themselves in fight
And lit their altar to the God of War.
The watchmen told of foray from afar,
Heroes till death they ranged themselves in fight
And lit their altar to the God of War.
110
For every goat upon the Armboth fell,
And every crag above the shining mere,
And every shepherd path they knew so well
In this small world, to them as life was dear.
And every crag above the shining mere,
And every shepherd path they knew so well
In this small world, to them as life was dear.
But we like weary Titans grasp and groan,
From heights of empire wider is our view,
Yet have we lost what he with axe of stone
And triple-rampired fort as patriot knew.
From heights of empire wider is our view,
Yet have we lost what he with axe of stone
And triple-rampired fort as patriot knew.
| Poems at Home and Abroad | |