Durham

Durham

Durham, I love thy waters and thy woods,
And that majestic temple which uprears
Its noble Norman towers towards heaven, and cheers
Man with the music which oft flows in floods
Of melody from its sweet chiming bells. 5
Full many a pilgrim in “this vale of tears”
Has felt those sights and sounds of many years
Sustained their drooping spirits. The hills and dells
Stretch’d out for miles around, with speech, could tell
How, triumphing o’er pride and lust of gain, 10
These sights and sounds have help’d to banish pain,
And aided many sorrowing souls to impel
Their soaring upward to that home on high
Which is the sure reward of human purity.

George Markham Tweddell

[A copy also stuck on the fly-leaf of G. M. Tweddell’s
copy of George Allan’s 1847 Historical and Descriptive
view of the City of Durham and its Environs, Tweddell
Collection U/TW/2/2]

Note (Ed)
We have not adhered strictly to the Cleveland theme on this blog, including some poems from around the general area such as Durham and York, which are places easily visited from Cleveland.