As I from Hawes to Richmond did repair,

It chanced that I saw standing in a dell

Three aspens at three corners of a square,

And one, not four yards distant, near a well.

What this imported I could ill divine:

And, pulling now the rein my horse to stop,

I saw three pillars standing in a line,

The last stone pillar on a dark hill-top.

The trees were gray, with neither arms nor head;

Half-wasted the square mound of tawny green;