Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

F. Wyville Home b. 1851

Dover Cliff

LAST April, when the winds had lost their chill,

I lay down dreamily upon the verge

Of Shakespeare’s Cliff, where sea and sea-wind scourge

The eternal barrier that withstands them still.

I heard the billows break beneath and fill

The wide air with the thunder of the surge;

And near my cheek, half fearful to emerge,

A violet grew upon the grassy hill.

There while I lay, Poet, I dreamed of thee.

Thy very voice, whose matchless music yet

O’ermasters all the world’s, surrounded me,

Singing, and in the sound of it there met

With all the might and passion of the sea

The utter sweetness of the violet.