 | The Poems of John Clare |  |
WOODCROFT CASTLE (II)
Absorbing time, that all things overwhelms,Will round the castle ancient thoughts recall;
The fragment of a moat, the triple elms,
The cannon holes that pierce the mossy wall,
The ancient arching gateway striding high,
Where Cromwell's stubborn army entered through,
The castle barn the stranger passes by,
And the old house which many a pencil drew.
Some dim-seen paintings triumph on the walls,
And travellers still the antique rooms admire,
Where my lord's parlour still the past recalls;
Where Cromwell doubtless would from strife retire,
The locked-up room where superstition sleeps
And Cromwell's memory in dread mystery creeps.
| The Poems of John Clare | |