Selected Verses of a Northern English Poet

UPON THE CITY OF BATH

and that for the general part
O Bath
thou place
of time unpassed
where beauteous form
doth last
and history
is unsurpassed
what sense
hath thou
to tell
the mind
that in
such sense
the past
doth find
and knows
a truth
whose age
has gone
but lingers yet
to some become
like evening
of the summer sun
in this
sweet place
of Somerset
where Bath
close like
a jewel is set
and in its sweet
and civil streets
the sweetly soul
its people meets
of both
the quick
and dead
and no more
shall be said
save homage
to an English town
***


UPON BATH ABBEY
The Parish Church Of Bath

O Abbey Church
Of majesty
wherein sweet
England’s creed
is free
to be a thing
of conscience
fair
in tolerance
that all
may share
and reason
sweet and eloquent
that shall not
of the past repent
nor present too
for our sweet view
of loyalty
to the Crown
though Popery
may frown
upon our
English Church
and thou
sweet words
doth preach
and tolerance
doth teach
within this building
tall and fair
whose history
I fain would share
to be a part
of that I see
that I remembered
should be
***


UPON THE ROYAL CRESCENT
In the City of Bath

O Crescent glorious
of houses generous
to overawe
the mind
in regal splendor
stand you well
wherein your
eloquence shall tell
of greatness
unsurpassed
by any deed
of building
whose fabric
still doth last
and that
within
this precious land
of which
in statement true
you stand
of all to which
we do pretend
those things
that are
our own Godsend
the qualities
of England fair
this England
that we all
do share
and you
do promise us
ourselves
within these sweet
and blissful realms
***


UPON GREAT PULTENEY STREET
In the City of Bath

I do compare thee
to a symphony
as glorious
as such
can be
your majesty
and grace divine
your triumph
of the mason fine
doth shine
and I am humbled
just to walk
your street
and could
a Mozart
more have
made thee sweet
the detail
that doth make
your grandeur meet
as intimate
in sight to see
a counterpoint
to majesty
as suchlike
to a melody
that make
a symphony
divine
and that
as I have said
and to
a garden
are you led
and wherefore
hath I lost
my heart
***


UPON HENRIETTA STREET
In the City of Bath
In sweetest
Henrietta Street
whose stonework fair
I find
most meet
whose terraces
do stand
most high
and of my breath
I catch a sigh
at form
that fair
and ordered be
whose beauty
is a mystery
though never could
more simple be
but is in form
simplicity
like metre
to a melody
and to
the eye
it does
deny
all falsehood
that false truth
can be
and I
delight
upon the sight
of that
in fabric
which I see
the very
sweetest thing
of English
true simplicity
***

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