Towery city and branchy between towers;
Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark charmèd, rook racked, river-rounded;
The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town
Once encounter in, here coped and poisèd powers;
Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there,
That neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is
Best in; graceless growth, thou hast
Rural, rural keeping — folk, flocks, and flowers.
Yet ah! this air I gather and I
He lived on: these weeds and waters, these walls are
He haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace;
Of realty the rarest-veinèd unraveller; a
Rivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece;
Who fired France for Mary without spot.
