Moonlight, a Poem: with Several Copies of Verses/On Beholding Bodiam Castle
ON BEHOLDING BODIAM CASTLE,
ON THE BANK OF THE ROTHER,
IN SUSSEX.
O thou brave Ruin of the passed Time,When glorious Spirits shone in burning Arms,And the brave Trumpet, with its sweet Alarms,Call'd Honour! at the Matin Hour sublime,And the grey Ev'ning; thou hast had thy Prime,And thy full Vigour, and the eating HarmsOf Age have robb'd Thee of thy warlike Charms,And plac'd Thee here, an Image, in my Rhyme:The Owl now haunts Thee, and Oblivion's Plant,The creeping Ivy, has o'er-veil'd thy Towers;And Rother, looking up with Eye askant,Recalling to his Mind thy brighter Hours,Laments the Time, when, fair and elegant,Beauty first laugh'd from out thy joyous Bowers!