22.05.2007, 21:06
Great Britain through the Ice: Or, Premature Patriotism
Methought I lived in the icy times forlorn;
And, with a fond forecasting love and pride,
I hung o'er frozen England:--"When," I cried,
When will the island of our hopes be born?
When will our fields be seen, our church bells heard?
And Avon, Doon, and Tweed break out in song?
This blank unstoried ice be warmed and stirred,
And Thames, and Clyde, and Humber roll along
To a free sea-board? airs of paradise
Install our summer and our flowery springs,
And lift the larks, and our land the nightingales?
And this wild alien unfamiliar Wales
Melt home among her harps? and vernal skies
Thaw out old Dover for the houseless kings?"
Methought I lived in the icy times forlorn;
And, with a fond forecasting love and pride,
I hung o'er frozen England:--"When," I cried,
When will the island of our hopes be born?
When will our fields be seen, our church bells heard?
And Avon, Doon, and Tweed break out in song?
This blank unstoried ice be warmed and stirred,
And Thames, and Clyde, and Humber roll along
To a free sea-board? airs of paradise
Install our summer and our flowery springs,
And lift the larks, and our land the nightingales?
And this wild alien unfamiliar Wales
Melt home among her harps? and vernal skies
Thaw out old Dover for the houseless kings?"