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Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle |
Almost grotesquely out of place, it stands Amid the countryside, as if some hands Had plucked it from the banks of Seine or Loire Or from some more fabled foreign shore And planted it alongside English trees, To gaze at visitors in twos and threes Who come to share its grand munificence (The word is theirs). All this careful expense Was undertaken as a gift to all Who wished to share. The soaring portrait hall, The gold, the Sevres… and in the grand salon, What whim, what ingenuity, what wit Combined to make this precious toy that waits For two to chime: a clockwork silver swan! ©The contents of this page are copyright protected.
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