Nature

Memorials of Travel: VII. Relics

by Edward Dowden 1843–1913

From Poems (1914)

Nature

What relic of the dear, dead yesterday
Shall my heart keep? The visionary light
Of dawn? Alas! it is a thing too bright,
God does not give such memories away.
Nor choose I one fair flower of those that sway
To the chill breathing of the waterfall
In rocky angles black with scattering spray,
Fair though no sunbeam lays its coronal
Of light on their pale brows; nor glacier-gleam
I choose, nor eve’s red glamour; ’twas at noon
Resting I found this speedwell, while a stream,
That knew the immemorial inland croon,
Sang in my ears, and lulled me to a dream
Of English meadows, and one perfect June.

✦ ✦ ✦

In Switzerland.

MLA

Dowden, Edward. “Memorials of Travel: VII. Relics.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/dowden/42/.

Chicago

Dowden, Edward. “Memorials of Travel: VII. Relics.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/dowden/42/.

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