Cross Brow, Ambleside

My smallest daughter had wondered how
Her dear home came by its name, " Cross Brow":
Her home mid the meres, that loveliest seem,
In their autumn trance and their winter dream:
Her home at the feet of the mountains high,
That have entanglements with the sky.

So I told her how, in a time half known
And half forgotten, a cross of stone,
'Twixt field and fellside, here had stood —
More frail than a certain Cross of Wood;
And how sweet souls that fared this way
May have halted before it to kneel and pray.

It is seen no longer, from dale or hill:
'Tis the Cross of Wood that is lasting still!
But here, in a world of pain and loss,
Where each must carry his destined cross,
A frolicsome child remembers now
Why the house she romps in is called Cross Brow,
Though little indeed Life's gleeful morn
Can know of the Brow that was crowned with thorn.
Translation: 
Language: 
Rate this poem: 

Reviews

No reviews yet.