Wordsworth Poems

The Monument Commonly Called Long Meg and Her Daughters [Map], Near The River Eden

A weight of awe, not easy to be borne,

Fell suddenly upon my Spirit cast

From the dread bosom of the unknown past,

When first I saw that family forlorn.

Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn

The power of years pre-eminent, and placed

Apart, to overlook the circle vast

Speak, Giant-mother! tell it to the Morn

While she dispels the cumbrous shades of Night;

Let the Moon hear, emerging from a cloud;

At whose behest uprose on British ground

That Sisterhood, in hieroglyphic round

Forth-shadowing, some have deemed, the infinite

The inviolable God, that tames the proud!

Tranquility! the sovereign aim wert thou

In heathen schools of philosophic lore;

Heart-stricken by stern destiny of yore

The Tragic Muse thee served with thoughtful vow;

And what of hope Elysium could allow

Was fondly seized by Sculpture, to restore

Peace to the Mourner. But when He who wore

The crown of thorns around his bleeding brow

Warmed our sad being with celestial light,

'Then' Arts which still had drawn a softening grace

From shadowy fountains of the Infinite,

Communed with that Idea face to face:

And move around it now as planets run,

Each in its orbit round the central Sun.