Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/146

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INSCRIPTION III.

For the Apartment in Chepstow-Castle, where HENRY
MARTEN the Regicide was imprisoned Thirty Years.

For thirty years secluded from mankindHere Marten linger'd. Often have these wallsEchoed his footsteps, as with even treadHe paced around his prison: not to himDid Nature's fair varieties exist:He never saw the Sun's delightful beams,Save when thro' yon high bars it pour'd a sadAnd broken splendor. Dost thou ask his crime?He had rebell'd against the King, and satIn judgment on him; for his ardent mindShaped goodliest plans of happiness on earth,And peace and liberty. Wild dreams! But suchAs Plato lov'd; such as with holy zealOur Milton worshipp'd. Blessed hopes! awhileFrom man withheld, even to the latter days,When Christ shall come and all things be fulfill'd.
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