Classic Poem

XXV ON REVISITING DUNOLLY CASTLE

The captive Bird was gone; — to cliff or moor
Perchance had flown, delivered by the storm;
Or he had pined, and sunk to feed the worm:
Him found we not: but, climbing a tall tower,
There saw, impaved with rude fidelity
Of art mosaic, in a roofless floor,
An Eagle with stretched wings, but beamless eye —
An Eagle that could neither wail nor soar.
Effigy of the Vanished — (shall I dare
To call thee so?) or symbol of fierce deeds
And of the towering courage which past times
Rejoiced in — take, whate'er thou be, a share,
Not undeserved, of the memorial rhymes
That animate my way where'er it leads!