3-057-425 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

'At Vallombrosa' - a poem by William Wordsworth, 1840-1841. 'Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the Brooks In Vallombrosa, where Etrurian shades High over-arched embower. Par(adise) Lost. "'Vallombrosa. I longed in thy shadiest wood To slumber, reclined on the moss-cover'd floor!' Fond wish that was granted at last, and the Flood, That lulled me asleep, bids me listen once more. Its murmur how soft! as it falls down the steep, Near that [Coll?] - yon sequestered Retreat high in air, Where our Milton was wont lonely vigils to keep For converse with God, sought through study and prayer. The Monks still repeat the tradition with pride, And its truth who shall doubt? for his Spirit is here; In the cloud-piercing rocks doth her grandeur abide, In the pines pointing heavenward her beauty austere; In the flower-besprent meadows his Genius we trace Turn'd to humbler delights, in which youth might confide, That would yield him fit help while prefiguring that Place Where, if Sin had not enter'd, Love never had died'.