Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Keswick | | Keswick | | Robert Southey (1774–1843) |
| | (From A Vision of Judgement)
’T WAS at that sober hour when the light of day is receding, | |
| And from surrounding things the hues wherewith day has adorned them | |
| Fade, like the hopes of youth, till the beauty of earth is departed,— | |
| Pensive, though not in thought, I stood at the window, beholding | |
| Mountain and lake and vale; the valley disrobed of its verdure; | 5 |
| Derwent retaining yet from eve a glassy reflection, | |
| Where his expanded breast, then still and smooth as a mirror, | |
| Under the woods reposed; the hills that, calm and majestic, | |
| Lifted their heads in the silent sky, from far Glaramara, | |
| Bleacrag, and Maidenmawr, to Grizedal and westermost Withop. | 10 |
| Dark and distinct they rose. The clouds had gathered above them | |
| High in the middle air,—huge, purple, pillowy masses; | |
| While in the west beyond was the last pale tint of the twilight, | |
| Green as a stream in the glen whose pure and chrysolite waters | |
| Flow o’er a schistous bed, and serene as the age of the righteous. | 15 |
| Earth was hushed and still; all motion and sound were suspended: | |
| Neither man was heard, bird, beast, nor humming of insect,— | |
| Only the voice of the Greta, heard only when all is in stillness. | |
| Pensive I stood, and alone; the hour and the scene had subdued me; | |
| And as I gazed in the west, where infinity seemed to be open, | 20 |
| Yearned to be free from time, and felt that this life is a thraldom. | | | | |
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