The Poetry Corner

Memorials Of A Tour On The Continent, 1820 - XXX. - Echo, Upon The Gemmi

By William Wordsworth

What beast of chase hath broken from the cover? Stern Gemmi listens to as full a cry, As multitudinous a harmony Of sounds as rang the heights of Latmos over, When, from the soft couch of her sleeping Lover, Up-starting, Cynthia skimmed the mountain dew In keen pursuit, and gave, where'er she flew, Impetuous motion to the Stars above her. A solitary Wolf-dog, ranging on Through the bleak concave, wakes this wondrous chime Of aery voices locked in unison, Faint, far-off, near, deep, solemn and sublime! So, from the body of one guilty deed, A thousand ghostly fears, and haunting thoughts, proceed!