Poem by Louise Imogen Guiney

A Last View

Where down the glen, across the shallow ford,
Stretches the open aisle from scene to scene,
By halted horses silently we lean,
Gazing enchanted from our steeper sward.
How yon low loving skies of April hoard
An hundred pinnacles, and how with sheen
Of spike and ball her languid clouds between,
Grey Oxford grandly rises riverward!
Sweet on those dim long-dedicated walls,
Silver as rain the frugal sunshine falls;
Slowly sad eyes resign them, bound afar.
Dear Beauty, dear Tradition, fare you well:
And powers that aye aglow in you, impel
Our quickening spirits from the slime we are.

1. Of Joan’s Youth
2. Spring Nightfall
3. The Vigil-at-Arms
4. Florentin
5. A Madonna of Domenico Ghirlandajo

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