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.

Effigyof 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!