Classic Poem

Here, still sequestered, Penmon's sacred dome
Recalls to mind the inmates of the tomb
Who reared with pious zeal the massy pile
And filled with notes of praise the echoing aisle;
When Idwal, born of Cambria's regal race,
Beheld with guardian eye the happy place.
Alas! what is it now? the damp abode
Of slimy snails, the spider and the toad,
Where waking owls in screaming concert call
Their prowling mates when evening's shadows fall.

We hie where Baron-Hill attracts the Muse,
The sunny glades, the brow, the varying views —
Isles, towns, the rising hills, the spreading bay,
The Muse, delighted, owns the grand display;
Here Flora smiles and flowers of every hue
Their glowing petals spread and drink the dew,
Luxuriant rise beneath her fostering care
And shed their fragrance on the ambient air;
Here warblers carol on the bending spray,
The Dryads gambol and the Satyrs play
Through wilds of foliage and the peaceful groves,
Haunts of the Muse, the leisure hour she loves:
For Art and Nature here their beauties blend,
And Taste and Bulkeley for the palm contend.

The landscape's various charms the Muse explores,
The druid haunts and Mona's hallowed shores,
High Arfon soaring o'er the humbler isle,
The winding Menai, Daniel's mitred pile;
Thy towers Caernarfon, triple summits Llyn,
That distant close the vast and varied scene.
Below, amphibious man, as whim prevails,
Trims up his little bark and spreads his sails;
Or led by florid Health, descends to lave
And skims the surface of the bracing wave,
Or frets the liquid azure as he floats
Where sister nations crowd the busy boats.

Here glowed the patriot breast with public good
And urged a wish to stem th'obstructing flood,
Bade Genius form the potent pier that braves
Impeding tempests and the war of waves;
Beheld the embryo arch with fostering smile
Entice the infant to the parent isle.

Now Nature softening from the Carnedd bends
And gently to the humbler dale descends,
Alternate spreads the saline sheet or sands
And checks the waves with Aber's lengthened strands;
Here looks at Claude with eye benign and mild,
There stares at Rosa like a maniac wild.

Now day's bright beams to western waves retire
And Thetis hails again light's radiant sire.
We leave the isle and homeward point the prow,
And now the bark proceeds serene and slow,
While babbling Echo from the caverned shores
Repeats the dashing of the labouring oars
And, pleased with Arfon's mimic voice, prolongs
The laugh-approving and repeated songs.
And now, alternate, on distended sails
The breathing air or genial breeze prevails —
Plays on the surface, and at eve restores
The mirthful group to Mona's greeting shores:
The day is closed, the fluttering sails are furled,
And night in shade and stillness folds the world.

Here, still sequestered, Penmon's sacred dome
Recalls to mind the inmates of the tomb
Who reared with pious zeal the massy pile
And filled with notes of praise the echoing aisle;
When Idwal, born of Cambria's regal race,
Beheld with guardian eye the happy place.
Alas! what is it now? the damp abode
Of slimy snails, the spider and the toad,
Where waking owls in screaming concert call
Their prowling mates when evening's shadows fall.

We hie where Baron-Hill attracts the Muse,
The sunny glades, the brow, the varying views —
Isles, towns, the rising hills, the spreading bay,
The Muse, delighted, owns the grand display;
Here Flora smiles and flowers of every hue
Their glowing petals spread and drink the dew,
Luxuriant rise beneath her fostering care
And shed their fragrance on the ambient air;
Here warblers carol on the bending spray,
The Dryads gambol and the Satyrs play
Through wilds of foliage and the peaceful groves,
Haunts of the Muse, the leisure hour she loves:
For Art and Nature here their beauties blend,
And Taste and Bulkeley for the palm contend.

The landscape's various charms the Muse explores,
The druid haunts and Mona's hallowed shores,
High Arfon soaring o'er the humbler isle,
The winding Menai, Daniel's mitred pile;
Thy towers Caernarfon, triple summits Llyn,
That distant close the vast and varied scene.
Below, amphibious man, as whim prevails,
Trims up his little bark and spreads his sails;
Or led by florid Health, descends to lave
And skims the surface of the bracing wave,
Or frets the liquid azure as he floats
Where sister nations crowd the busy boats.

Here glowed the patriot breast with public good
And urged a wish to stem th'obstructing flood,
Bade Genius form the potent pier that braves
Impeding tempests and the war of waves;
Beheld the embryo arch with fostering smile
Entice the infant to the parent isle.

Now Nature softening from the Carnedd bends
And gently to the humbler dale descends,
Alternate spreads the saline sheet or sands
And checks the waves with Aber's lengthened strands;
Here looks at Claude with eye benign and mild,
There stares at Rosa like a maniac wild.

Now day's bright beams to western waves retire
And Thetis hails again light's radiant sire.
We leave the isle and homeward point the prow,
And now the bark proceeds serene and slow,
While babbling Echo from the caverned shores
Repeats the dashing of the labouring oars
And, pleased with Arfon's mimic voice, prolongs
The laugh-approving and repeated songs.
And now, alternate, on distended sails
The breathing air or genial breeze prevails —
Plays on the surface, and at eve restores
The mirthful group to Mona's greeting shores:
The day is closed, the fluttering sails are furled,
And night in shade and stillness folds the world.