Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
The Poetic LandWilliam Caldwell Roscoe (18231859)
T
Castalian music, and that flattering sound,
Low rustle of the loved Apollian leaves
With which my youthful hair was to be crown’d.
Grow dimmer in my ears; while Beauty grieves
Over her votary less frequent found;
And, not untouch’d by storms, my life-boat heaves
Thro’ the splash’d ocean-waters, outward bound.
Clasp’d on his oar, strives trembling to reclaim
Some loved lost echo from the fleeting strand,
So lean I back to the poetic land;
And in my heart a sound, a voice, a name
Hangs, as above the lamp hangs the expiring flame.