To Alfred Tennyson — 1883
Familiar with thy melody,
We go debating of its power,
As churls, who hear it hour by hour,
Contemn the skylark’s minstrelsy—
As shepherds on a Highland lea
Think lightly of the heather flower
Which makes the moorland’s purple dower,
As far away as eye can see.
Let churl or shepherd change his sky,
And labour in the city dark,
Where there is neither air nor room—
How often will the exile sigh
To hear again the unwearied lark,
And see the heather’s lavish bloom!