Classic Poem

( A ) O would you dwell upon this height,
To look on mead and rill?
Or dwelling on some lowly ground,
Look upward to the hill?
Look upward to the down, o' days,
When sheep are on its brows,
Or downward hence on streams that flow
By fields of dairy cows?

( B ) 'Tis well to look on lowly fields
From such a sunny height,
Or from beneath to see the down
With roads and hawthorns white.
On downs cool air may blow, o' days,
When lanes have too much heat,
But downside thorns in winter yield
Small shelter from the sleet.

( A ) In lowland lanes the hedgy banks
Hem in the narrow sight.
( B ) On downs we find but little shade,
But shades of clouds in flight.
( A ) In lowland meads the fogs, o' nights,
Arise as thick as wool.
( B ) And up on streamless downs we miss
The moon-glare of the pool.

( A ) In height and lowliness of life,
As on the world's wide ground,
Nor all is good, nor all is ill,
But good with ill is found,
And, high or low, we take, o' days,
The evil with the good.
Not ev'ry height is Duncliffe Hill
With loftiness and wood.