This mound in some remote and dateless day
Rear'd o'er a Chieftain of the Age of Hills,
May here detain thee Traveller! from thy road
Not idly lingering. In his narrow house
Some Warrior sleeps below: his gallant deeds
Haply at many a solemn festival
The Bard has harp'd, but perish'd is the song
Of praise, as o'er these bleak and barren downs
The wind that passes and is heard no more.
Go Traveller on thy way, and contemplate
Glory's brief pageant, and remember then
That one good deed was never wrought in vain.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Thursday, October 20, 2005
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1 comment:
Thanks to Nigel Swift for drawing my attention to this one; and how prophetic of Southey as '05 may be the deciding year for the long-term conservation of Silbury.
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