The Poetry Corner

Picture Of Daniel In The Lions' Den, At Hamilton Palace

By William Wordsworth

Amid a fertile region green with wood And fresh with rivers, well did it become The ducal Owner, in his palace-home To naturalise this tawny Lion brood; Children of Art, that claim strange brotherhood (Couched in their den) with those that roam at large Over the burning wilderness, and charge The wind with terror while they roar for food. Satiate are 'these'; and stilled to eye and ear; Hence, while we gaze, a more enduring fear! Yet is the Prophet calm, nor would the cave Daunt him, if his Companions, now bedrowsed Outstretched and listless, were by hunger roused: Man placed him here, and God, he knows, can save.