TYNE AND WANSBECK

WOULD I again were with you, O ye dales
Of Tyne, and ye most ancient woodlands! where,
Oft as the giant flood obliquely strides,
And his banks open, and his lawns extend,
Stops short the pleased traveller to view,
Presiding o’er the scene, some rustic tower
Founded by Norman or by Saxon hands;
O ye Northumbrian shades! which overlook
The rocky pavement and the mossy falls
Of solitary Wansbeck’s limpid stream,
How gladly I recall your well-known seats
Beloved of old; and that delightful time
When, all alone, for many a summer’s day
I wandered through your calm recesses, fed
In silence by some powerful hand unseen.


Mark Akenside