The Kirk of Ulpha

William Wordsworth

THE KIRK of Ulpha to the pilgrim’s eye

Is welcome as a star, that doth present

Its shining forehead through the peaceful rent

Of a black cloud diffused o’er half the sky:

Or as a fruitful palm-tree towering high

O’er the parched waste beside an Arab’s tent;

Or the Indian tree whose branches, downward bent,

Take root again, a boundless canopy.

How sweet were leisure! could it yield no more

Than ’mid that wave-washed Churchyard to recline,

From pastoral graves extracting thoughts divine;

Or there to pace, and mark the summits hoar

Of distant moonlit mountains faintly shine,

Soothed by the unseen River’s gentle roar.


Main Location:

Ulpha, Cumbria LA20, UK