English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 414. Dover Cliffs |
| | | William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) |
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| ON these white cliffs, that calm above the flood | |
| Uplift their shadowy heads, and at their feet | |
| Scarce hear the surge that has for ages beat, | |
| Sure many a lonely wanderer has stood; | |
| And while the distant murmur met his ear, | 5 |
| And o’er the distant billows the still eve | |
| Sailed slow, has thought of all his heart must leave | |
| To-morrow; of the friends he loved most dear; | |
| Of social scenes from which he wept to part. | |
| But if, like me, he knew how fruitless all | 10 |
| The thoughts that would full fain the past recall; | |
| Soon would he quell the risings of his heart, | |
| And brave the wild winds and unhearing tide, | |
| The world his country, and his God his guide. | |
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