dots-menu
×

Home  »  A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895  »  The Plough

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Richard Henry Horne 1802–84

The Plough

Horne-Ri

A LANDSCAPE IN BERKSHIRE

ABOVE yon sombre swell of land

Thou seest the dawn’s grave orange hue,

With one pale streak like yellow sand,

And over that a vein of blue.

The air is cold above the woods;

All silent is the earth and sky,

Except with his own lonely moods

The blackbird holds a colloquy.

Over the broad hill creeps a beam,

Like hope that gilds a good man’s brow,

And now ascends the nostril-stream

Of stalwart horses come to plough.

Ye rigid Ploughmen, bear in mind

Your labor is for future hours!

Advance—spare not—nor look behind:

Plough deep and straight with all your powers.