CUMBERLAND GAP



For which the rest was prelude, came with roar,
Heaving the earth to sky and hurling far
Into the night the ruin of that hold.
A moment and 't was dark; then scattered brands,
Fanned to swift burning by the wind that swept
Into that tumult, bore to woods and fields
A tide of flame. Long stood we there and looked,
But silently, for none had heart to hail
Our ally Death, though well he smote for us,
Sending us safety in that mighty stroke.
Then rang again the axes down the slope
On other side of hill; our way breaks on,
Marked by the trees that totter, lean, and crash
To right and left, leaving a rift where crept,
As in a roofless cavern far from sun,
The thin blue line that flowed down hill and up
Over the mountain torrents, round the crags
That sit as ancient ramparts on the crests,
A monstrous serpent, with each scale a man,
That worms its way o'er earth with many a turn,
But ever towards the north star -animate
With strange compulsion that bids it go forth,
Starved, hopeless, toiling on its unseen quest.

The eyes that look to earth from starry realms
For all they know of deeds that we know not -
Deeds marvellous and strange - see none so far
From shape of ordered spheres as they behold
In this wild march. There on the east and west



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