Here Stranger rest thee! from the neighbouring towers <br />Of Oxford, haply thou hast forced thy bark <br />Up this strong stream, whose broken waters here <br />Send pleasant murmurs to the listening sense: <br />Rest thee beneath this hazel; its green boughs <br />Afford a grateful shade, and to the eye <br />Fair is its fruit: Stranger! the seemly fruit <br />Is worthless, all is hollowness within, <br />For on the grave of ROSAMUND it grows! <br />Young lovely and beloved she fell seduced, <br />And here retir'd to wear her wretched age <br />In earnest prayer and bitter penitence, <br />Despis'd and self-despising: think of her <br />Young Man! and learn to reverence Womankind!<br /><br />Robert Southey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/inscription-01-for-a-tablet-at-godstow-nunnery/
