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From 4 November 2026 I am not setting any more poems to music. Voting is closed. This poem will stay as text until the garden closes at midnight on 20 January 2028.
O come and stand with me upon this ridge
That overlooks the sweet secluded vale;
Before us is a little rustic bridge,
A simple plank; and by its side a rail,
On either hand to guide the footsteps frail
Of first and second childhood; while below,
The murmuring brooklet tells its babbling tale,
Like a sweet undersong, which in its flow
It chanteth to the flowers that on its margin grow.
For many a flower does blossom there, to bless
With beauty, and with fragrance to imbue
The borders—strawberry of the wilderness,
The starlike daisy, violet deeply blue,
And cowslip, in whose cup the morning dew
Glistens unspent till noontide's languid hour;
And, last of all, and fairest to the view,
The lily of the vale, whose virgin flower
Trembles at every breeze within its leafy bower.
This poem will stay as text
From 4 November 2026 I am not setting any more poems to music. Voting is closed. This poem will stay as text until the garden closes at midnight on 20 January 2028.
“I find I can always give utterance to my own thoughts and feelings with more readiness, ease, and fluency, on paper than orally.”
Explore in context
Events during Bernard Barton's lifetime
2,353 curated events in our library overlapped Bernard Barton's life (31 January 1784 – 19 February 1849 (~65)) .
Showing 6 notable events. Browse the full interactive timeline for all 2,353.
6 events in our library relate directly to Bernard Barton.