Classic Poem

Oh, thou canst not escape! my songs pervade
The distance lying between us, and they fill
The sunny plain, the fields, the leafy shade.
They ripple to thee in the rippling rill,
They call unto thee from the gleaming hill;
They laughing claim thee as mine own for ever
In spite of all that time can work of ill.
They cluster round thee, to forsake thee never;
Their plumes in the hazy air of August quiver;
They follow thee throughout the silent deep
Unfathomed dim abodes of awful sleep,
O'er tides of resonant sea and tides of river:
Yea, one day they shall hold thee in strong hands,
And bear thee forth a captive towards strange lands.