DUNGEON GHYLL FORCE
This spot is the scene of the lamb's rescue described by Wordsworth in the "Idle Shepherd-boys."
It was a spot which you may see
If ever you to Langdale go;
Into a chasm a mighty block
Hath fallen, and made a bridge of rock:
The gulf is deep below;
And, in a basin black and small,
Receives a lofty waterfall.
With staff in hand across the cleft
The challenger pursued his march;
And now, all eyes and feet, hath gained
The middle of the arch.
When list! he hears a piteous moan—
Again!—his heart within him dies—
His pulse is stopped, his breath is lost,
He totters, pallid as a ghost,
And, looking down, espies
A lamb, that in the pool is pent
Within that black and frightful rent.
****
When he had learnt what thing it was,
That sent this rueful cry; I ween
The boy recovered heart, and told
The sight which he had seen.
*****
And there the helpless lamb he found
By those huge rocks encompassed round.