These walls were built by men who did a deed
Of blood:--terrific conscience, day by day,
Followed, where'er their shadow seemed to stay,
And still in thought they saw their victim bleed,
Before God's altar shrieking: pangs succeed,
As dire upon their heart the deep sin lay,
No tears of agony could wash away:
Hence! to the land's remotest limit, speed!
These walls are raised in vain, as vainly flows
Contrition's tear: Earth, hide them, and thou, Sea,
Which round the lone isle, where their bones repose,
Dost sound for ever, their sad requiem be,
In fancy's ear, at pensive evening's close,
Still murmuring{b} MISERERE, DOMINE.
[14] Three mailed men, in Canterbury Cathedral, rushed on the Archbishop
of Canterbury, and murdered him before the altar. Conscience-stricken,
they fled and built Woodspring Abbey, in the remote corner of
Somersetshire, near Western Super Mare, where the land looks on the
Atlantic sea. There are three unknown graves on the Flat Holms.