William Wordsworth

Nunnery Dell

THE FLOODS are roused, and will not soon be weary;
Down from the Pennine Alps how fiercely sweeps
Croglin, the stately Eden’s tributary!
He raves, or through some moody passage creeps,
Plotting new mischief; out again he leaps
Into broad light, and sends, through regions airy,
That voice which soothed the nuns while on the steeps
They knelt in prayer, or sang to blissful Mary.
That union ceased; then, cleaving easy walks
Through crags, and smoothing paths beset with danger,
Came studious Taste; and many a pensive stranger
Dreams on the banks, and to the river talks.
What change shall happen next to Nunnery Dell?
Canal, and viaduct, and railway, tell!