Poem by Robert Southey

For a Monument in the New Forest

THIS is the place where William’s kingly power
Did from their poor and peaceful homes expel,
Unfriended, desolate, and shelterless,
The inhabitants of all the fertile tract
Far as these wilds extend. He levelled down
Their little cottages, he bade their fields
Lie waste, and forested the land, that so
More royally might he pursue his sports.
If that thine heart be human, Passenger!
Sure it will swell within thee, and thy lips
Will mutter curses on him. Think thou then
What cities flame, what hosts unsepulchred
Pollute the passing wind, when raging Power
Drives on his bloodhounds to the chase of Man;
And, as thy thoughts anticipate that day
When God shall judge aright, in charity
Pray for the wicked rulers of mankind.

1. For the Cenotaph at Ermenonville
2. St. Bartholomew’s Day
3. King Henry the Fifth and the Hermit of Dreux
4. For a Monument in the Vale of Ewias
5. St. Michael’s Chair

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