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 Harms
Of 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!
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 Harms
Of 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!