Requiem First, XXXIII

Eastward of Binning’s beauteous wood Stood Baldred’s mossy cell, Where in communion deep with God The patriarch loved to dwell, What time the summer breezes bland Were wafting perfume o’er the land; And so serene the ocean lay, It pictured headland-rock and bay; And heaven’s veil of azure hue Was only speck’d by grey curlew. Here often, tame as Rylston’s doe, The chase-driven deer would stand, And lick the hermit’s palm of snow, And eat from gentle hand. And here, before the altar’s mound, Which time-worn hieroglyphics graced, His canonized bones they placed, And sanctified the ground; And holily they sprinkled o’er His grave, as sung the pious choir.