Page:Poems and ballads (IA balladspoems00swinrich).pdf/199

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FOUR SONGS OF FOUR SEASONS.
183

Higher than the pillared height
Of that strange cliff‑side bright
With basalt towers whose might
Strong time bows down.

And the old fierce ruin there
Of the old wild princes' lair
Whose blood in mine hath share
Gapes gaunt and great
Toward heaven that long ago
Watched all the wan land's woe
Whereon the wind would blow
Of their bleak hate.

Dead are those deeds; but yet
Their memory seems to fret
Lands that might else forget
That old world's brand;