Poem by William Wordsworth

Gordale

AT early dawn, or rather when the air
Glimmers with fading light, and shadowy eve
Is busiest to confer and to bereave;
Then, pensive votary! let thy feet repair
To Gordale chasm, terrific as the lair
Where the young lions couch; for so, by leave
Of the propitious hour, thou mayst perceive
The local deity, with oozy hair
And mineral crown, beside his jagged urn
Recumbent: him them mayst behold, who hides
His lineaments by day, yet there presides,
Teaching the docile waters how to turn,
Or, if need be, impediment to spurn,
And force their passage to the salt-sea tides!

1. To ——, on Her First Ascent to the Summit of Helvellyn
2. The Force of Prayer; or, The Founding of Bolton Priory
3. Cave of Staffa
4. Suggested at Tyndrum in a Storm
5. Tynwald Hill

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