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(From Dartmoor)
FAR o’er hill and dale | |
| Their summons glad the Sabbath-bells had flung;— | |
| From hill and dale obedient they had sped | |
| Who heard the holy welcoming; and now | |
| They stood above the venerable dead | 5 |
| Of centuries, and bowed where they had bowed | |
| Who slept below. The simple touching tones | |
| Of England’s psalmody upswelled, and all, | |
| With lip and heart united, loudly sang | |
| The praises of the Highest. But anon, | 10 |
| Harsh mingling with that minstrelsy, was heard | |
| The fitful blast;—the pictured windows shook,— | |
| Around the aged tower the rising gale | |
| Shrill whistled; and the ancient massive doors | |
| Swung on their jarring hinges. Then—at once— | 15 |
| Fell an unnatural calm, and with it came | |
| A fearful gloom, deepening and deepening, fill | |
| ’T was dark as night’s meridian; for the cloud, | |
| Descending, had within its bosom wrapt | |
| The fated dome. At first a herald flash | 20 |
| Just chased the darkness, and the thunder spoke, | |
| Breaking the strange tranquillity. But soon | |
| Pale horror reigned,—the mighty tempest burst | |
| In wrath appalling;—forth the lightning sprang, | |
| And death came with it, and the living writhed | 25 |
In that dread flame-sheet.
Clasped by liquid fire, | |
| Bereft of hope, they madly said the hour | |
| Of final doom was nigh, and soul and sense | |
| Wild reeled; and, shrieking, on the sculptured floor | |
| Some helpless sank; and others watched each flash | 30 |
| With haggard look and frenzied eye, and cowered | |
| At every thunder-stroke. Again a power | |
| Unseen dealt death around! In speechless awe | |
| The boldest stood; and when the sunny ray, | |
| Glancing again on river, field, and wood, | 35 |
| Had chased the tempest, and they drank once more | |
| The balmy air, and saw the bow of God, | |
| His token to the nations, throwing wide | |
| Its arch of mercy o’er the freshened earth, | |
| How welcome was that light, that breeze, that bow! | 40 |
| And O, how deep the feeling that awoke | |
| To Heaven the hymn of thankfulness and joy! | |
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