Art And Nature

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THE BRIDGE BETWEEN CLIFTON AND LEIGH WOODS.

  Frown ever opposite, the angel cried,
  Who, with an earthquake's might and giant hand,
  Severed these riven rocks, and bade them stand
  Severed for ever! The vast ocean-tide,
  Leaving its roar without at his command,
  Shrank, and beneath the woods through the green land
  Went gently murmuring on, so to deride
  The frowning barriers that its force defied!
  But Art, high o'er the trailing smoke below
  Of sea-bound steamer, on yon summit's head
  Sat musing; and where scarce a wandering crow
  Sailed o'er the chasm, in thought a highway led;
  Conquering, as by an arrow from a bow,
  The scene's lone Genius by her elfin-thread.

© William Lisle Bowles