Page:Old Castles.djvu/24

16 In every need shall still return to thee.
 * Thy past has been a struggle stern and strong;

The Danes of old turned their fierce fires on thee, And thou laidst black and waste for centuries long, A refuge but for want; thy poverty Bringing thee strange acquaintance; and since then Since Rufus raised thy walls of unknown date, Raised long before by Rome, and yet again By the good Egfrid, thou both soon and late Hast oft been troubled, oft destroyed in part, Thy fiery neighbour, the marauding Scot, Still constant at thy gates; but still thy lot Has been to prosper; and thy purer heart, Strengthened by sorrow, unto virtue bound, Nor undevoid of feelings which create Religion’s purer thought and purer life, Shall still be thy protection, still thy state Increase and prosper, and thy future strife Enrich with nobler meed of nobler thought, Bringing thee guerdon of things truly great– A nobler spirit, and a wisdom fraught With purposes diviner, of a reach With the great coming ages, which shall teach All men new doctrines, and shall all men free With the pure power of purest Charity.