Doleful was the land, <br />Dull on, every side, <br />Neither soft n'or grand, <br />Barren, bleak, and wide; <br />Nothing look'd with love; <br />All was dingy brown; <br />The very skies above <br />Seem'd to sulk and frown. <br /> <br />Plodding sick and sad, <br />Weary day on day; <br />Searching, never glad, <br />Many a miry way; <br />Poor existence lagg'd <br />In this barren place; <br />While the seasons dragg'd <br />Slowly o'er its face. <br /> <br />Spring, to sky and ground, <br />Came before I guess'd; <br />Then one day I found <br />A valley, like a nest! <br />Guarded with a spell <br />Sure it must have been, <br />This little fairy dell <br />Which I had never seen. <br /> <br />Open to the blue, <br />Green banks hemm'd it round <br />A rillet wander'd through <br />With a tinkling sound; <br />Briars among the rocks <br />Tangled arbours made; <br />Primroses in flocks <br />Grew beneath their shade. <br /> <br />Merry birds a few, <br />Creatures wildly tame, <br />Perch'd and sung and flew; <br />Timid field-mice came; <br />Beetles in the moss <br />Journey'd here and there; <br />Butterflies across <br />Danced through sunlit air. <br /> <br />There I often read, <br />Sung alone, or dream'd; <br />Blossoms overhead, <br />Where the west wind stream'd; <br />Small horizon-line, <br />Smoothly lifted up, <br />Held this world of mine <br />In a grassy cup. <br /> <br />The barren land to-day <br />Hears my last adieu: <br />Not an hour I stay; <br />Earth is wide and new. <br />Yet, farewell, farewell! <br />May the sun and show'rs <br />Bless that Little Dell <br />Of safe and tranquil hours!<br /><br />William Allingham<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-little-dell-2/
